


In Another World With My Luck Stat Set To Zero!

by DeepFriedYakisoba (Mireannea)



Category: Kirara Fantasia (Video Game), あんハピ | Anne Happy | Unhappy Go Lucky! (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, F/M, Friendship, I'm Bad At Tagging, Original Character(s), Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:01:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 44,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23045956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mireannea/pseuds/DeepFriedYakisoba
Summary: No one expected a boy to be summoned into Etoilia. And they would have probably sent him back. Except that this boy, Chris, is actually a Creamate's childhood friend.Originally written by ImSooooLucky, posted with his permission.
Relationships: Hanakoizumi Anne/Original Male Character(s)





	1. Welcome to Etoilia!

"Kirara-chan... Are you sure you used 'Call' correctly?"

"I did the same thing I always do. I'm unsure as to why the outcome was different this time around."

It was as if I had awakened for the first time in years. Every inch of my body ached and yet, I stood upright. Slowly opening my eyes to my surroundings, two girls stood in front of me. One of them was of relatively average height with short, red hair that had two hair clips in the shape of stars. She was wearing a pink long-sleeved shirt with a brown skirt and a black cloak that went all the way down to the bottom of her brown thigh-high boots.

On the other hand, the second girl holding a giant key bigger than her entire body — looked much younger and had pink ribbons delicately sticking out of her long sky blue hair. The poofy pink and white dress she had on reminded me of something magical girls wear once they transform.

The sun shined through a little window that sat above a bed, which means that it was still daytime. It seemed to me like your average bedroom despite it looking extremely old-fashioned: 4 brick walls, a bed, some shelves, and a table with a thick book.

Laying down face first to the right of me was Hanako. However, this time, instead of immediately jumping up and reassuring me that she was alright, the girl who I've known and loved for years just laid there, barely clinging onto life. She had scratches, cuts, and patches of blood covering her entire body, which wasn't a rare sight when she was on her way to school, but judging by how severe her injuries looked, it was obvious that these weren't just cat scratches. Memories of our school life together started to flash before my eyes as my arms trembled not with fear of randomly waking up in a place I've never seen before in my 16 years of living, but with a combination of confusion, sadness, and anger. Before they could react I had already picked up the younger looking girl by the scruff of her collar and held her against a nearby wall.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER?!" I cried, tears quickly forming in my eyes. The younger girl immediately shut her eyes to avoid my glare as she struggled to get down.

"K-Kirara-chan..." she squeaked.

"Stand down. We're friends, not foes," The short-haired girl warned.  
"Hanakoizumi-san was wounded in battle and was brought here by Clea while I was in the middle of a summoning."

"Yeah, Kirara-chan here will heal her immediately... please calm down"

How could they say such idiotic things? There was no time to be wasting on _chunnibyou_ crap, Hanako was hurt and in the current condition she was in if she didn't get help soon...

"Battle? Heal?" I asked, my voice quivering at the fact that these two were playing some sort of game while someone was extremely injured. "Enough, please... Please call somebody who can help! DON'T JUST STAND THERE—"

The short-haired girl hovered her hand over Hanako's body as a bright light enveloped the entire room, temporarily blinding me in the process. My heart raced as I tightened my grip on Clea, who seemed completely unfazed by any of this. Just as quickly as the light came, it quickly went away to reveal a still unconscious yet healthy Hanako.

All cuts had seemingly been patched up and the blood that was spreading across the ground simply vanished as if it was never there in the first place. Relieved that the love of my life was safe, my iron grip on Clea loosened and l let my body go limp as I sat down, both of us making a loud thud as we hit the ground.

"There, there it's all right now, " Kirara calmly said, kneeling down and hugging a traumatized Clea. "Everything is going to be just fine. Be glad that you showed up when you did though, if I had used 'Call' again I don't think I could have healed Hanakoizumi-san. "

"Thank goodness..."

She actually did it. I'm unsure as to how, but these two weren't just your ordinary kids with overactive imaginations, they actually had _real powers_! Well, technically only Kirara proved herself to me, but I felt like it wouldn't be smart to underestimate Clea. The more I looked around, the more I began to realize that this room I was in wasn't just old fashioned, it was something you'd see in a fantasy game. The shelves I had mentioned earlier were filled to the brim with bottles of all shapes and sizes, inside of each and every one of them there were different colors of an unknown liquid. I was no architect but everything that was in this house just screamed fantasy to me, from the sword and shield that were in the upper left corner of the room to the wooden beams that were used as a foundation to keep the house from falling. Seeing how much of a _chunni_ Hibiki acted like most of the time, I felt as if she would love this sort of setting.

"Kirara, did you summon another one?" Yet another girl said, slowly opening the door. This one wore a blue and white dress with a golden cross in the middle. Her breathing was loud and quick, the scarlet red hue that was quickly spreading across her face matched with her extremely straight hair that was divided in two by white ribbons hanging by her shoulders. I wasn't aware that they let perverts into places like this.

"Lamp!" Kirara pointed at me as she was tending to Clea. "Sure did, he's right there,"

The pervert took one good look at me before she started to squeal, holding her flushed face with both hands. "Absolutely amazing~ But a boy? I thought you could only summon girls!"

"That's what I thought as well. "

The girl who was referred to as "Lamp" took a few steps towards me, her breathing becoming more and more gruffer as she got closer. "Let's see here..." She started to scan me up and down before she triumphantly put her finger in the air "I know you! You're Hanako-sama's boyfriend, the shy and easy teasable Chris-sama!"

..Sama? Why did she refer to me as if I was some sort of king or something? More importantly, how did she know anything about my relationship with Hanako? Things were getting more weird as time went on.

I hesitantly stood up and bowed before them much to the surprise of the three girls. "I didn't mean to act so stupidly hot-headed, I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize. You were just acting on your emotions after all." Kirara replied as she now stood beside Lamp.

"...I'm not gonna hold it against you. " Clea shakily said, hiding behind Kirara's cloak.

Closing my eyes, I gave them a warm smile. "Thank you very much!"

I was glad that the first people I came across in this world were as forgiving as they were. I mostly tried to keep my head down when it came to drawing attention to myself but when it came to the people who were important to me and their problems, I couldn't help but get too passionate and throw myself head first into trouble. Ever since getting into high school I've come to realize that this was the type of person I am.

"If you don't mind I only have 4 questions I'd like to ask you guys. "

Kirara's eyes narrowed. "Ask away."

"Alright question number 1." I declared, holding my pointer finger proudly upwards. "Clea, how old are you?"

I was met with stares that varied from dismay to outright anger.

"Chris-sama! Aren't you aware it's rude to ask for a maiden's age!" Lamp pouted. Clea interrupted the girl by putting her hand on Lamp's shoulder.

"I-I'm 16..."

How surprising! The fact that she was only slightly above Hanako, who stood at a already short 151 centimeters (4'11) and that she looked similar to a middle school student who hasn't hit their growth spurt yet made me believe that she was much younger. Guess that's why you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.

Kirara sighed and said "Honestly speaking, if that's your first question then I'm afraid of what your next three are."

"Don't worry, that was more of something to lighten up the mood. " I replied. "Next question is for you. Seeing as no one on Earth has the ability to heal others instantly, it's clear to me that I'm no longer there, am I right? I didn't die.. did I? Hanako-san is here too so... did something bad happen to her?"

"Die? Don't be ridiculous!" Kirara went to the table with the big book on it before returning to me with a wooden staff that was thin at the bottom, but as you made your way up the shaft it started to form into a "C" like shape. In the middle of this odd formation at the top of the staff was a star which seemingly floated.

"To put it simply, you were brought to the land of Etoilia by using a special form of summoning magic known as "Call". When Clea opens the gate with her key, I'm able to summon people from other worlds to lend me their strength under an oath. Up until now, only girls have been able to answer this call for help but somehow, even if it was subconsciously, you must have agreed to this oath.

I am the only who currently possesses this ability."

"Yup! Kirara really is amazing!" Lamp cheered, hugging the short haired girl.

I nodded. "So you can summon others, huh? Kumegawa Botan, Ekoda Ren, Hibarigaoka Ruri, and Hagyuu Hibiki." I hung my head in shame, looking at the wooden floor beneath me. "You guys seem to already know about me and Hanako-san, so it's safe to assume that you know those names as well.

"These are my and more importantly, Hanako's precious friends. It's a selfish thing to ask for but I would like to know if you can summon them here, I don't want her to feel lonely."

Clea crosses her two fingers into the shape of an X. "Kirara-chan can't do that!"

"Tch, why not?"

"Using 'Call' even a single time uses up a substantial amount of magic," Kirara calmly said before nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders. "Even if I did have an inhumane capacity of magic I still couldn't do it, you know? I can't choose the person I summon, it's completely random. "

At the side of my eye, I noticed Hanako slowly digging her nails into the floor as she tensed up her hand. Judging by that alone, there wasn't a lot of time before she woke up. My bangs covered my eyes as I gave my attention back to the trio of girls.

"I'd like to ask a single request of you three after I ask this last question. "

"You can count on us, Chris-sama! We'll fulfill that request as fast as possible!" Lamp announced, giving me a salute. Kirara's eyes quickly darted towards the eager girl.

"Lamp! You can't just say yes like that... what if he wants something outrageous like a million gold?"

"Then I'd get a job at Cork's shop until I could pay him the money!"

"Ugh..." Kirara groaned. "You're always so stubborn when it comes to the new Creamates... "

"I can assure you that my request isn't anything out of the ordinary." I chuckled before my smile quickly disappeared. "But, let's get this question of the way first, alright?"

The two girls who were just arguing like a newlywed couple both nodded, allowing me to continue. I solemnly gestured towards Hanako and said:

"What could have possibly happened to make her that hurt? I'm used to seeing her with simple injuries from animals but that... that was on a whole other level! How? H-How could someone do something like that to her?"

My shoulders hunched as my body leaned forward. Clea made her way towards me and kneeled, looking up at me sympathetically.

"You really care about her, don't you?" She asked. I aggressively nodded, tugging at the collar of my shirt. What would I have done if she had died right there and then? In my old world, I was alone as well. Avoided and ridiculed because of the stare that I was cursed with at birth, I didn't think I deserved other people's kindness. It wasn't until I met Hanako on that fateful day that I truly began to appreciate the presence of others. No matter how many times she was attacked, no matter what misfortune befell her, she always lived life with no regrets and a carefree smile on her face which inspired me to do the same.

"I'm not sure what happened but I saw Hanako limping into the village with all of her injuries. " Clea added. "When she finally collapsed I ended up dragging her here... I'm sorry if that isn't good enough of an answer."

I paused before attempting to regain my composure. "No. Don't be sorry at all, I need all the information I can get. "

Hanako groaned in pain before slowly shifting on to her back, spreading both of her arms out in the process. I hadn't noticed until now but her current attire really fit this whole fantasy setting. A white overdress with an opening near the chest hugged against her slim body, although she would often get self-conscious about not having the biggest chest. I always tried my best to reassure her that she was fine the way she was, even if I would get extremely **flustered** while doing so.

Tied around her collar was a red ribbon that turned gold near the end. The pieces of white and gold armor that covered her knees, forearms, and shoulders had four-leaf clover designs all over them

I guess even in this world she needed all the luck she can get.

"Hey, Hanako-sama's waking up!" Lamp pointed out.

"Which leads me into the request." I sat down beside Hanako and continued. "I hate to push you guys away right after I met you but I want to speak to Hanako-san one on one. Once she wakes up I want to be the first thing she sees. "

Kirara snorted and put hands on her hips. "How smooth of you."

"...Please wait outside! It won't take too long!"

"Will do, Chris-sama!" Lamp grabbed Kirara and Clea by the arms, quickly forcing both of them towards and out the door.

"Lamp what do you think you're doing?! Stop it!" Kirara demanded.

"Following orders!" She happily replied, smiling ear to ear.

"Orders? What orders? You didn't wait for us to reply—"

BANG!

The door had already slammed before I could hear Kirara continue to scold Lamp. What good friends those two must be.

Silence filled the room and as I turned to Hanako's face, I couldn't help but think how peaceful she looked as she slept. I ran my hands through her messy orange hair and like always it reminded me of petting an extremely fluffy sheep. She groaned once more, baring her teeth as she wearily opened her eyes.

"...Chris?" Hanako softly murmured, still looking visibly dazed. Tears began to pool underneath my eyelids as I gazed into her dark pink eyes. Sitting up and rotating one of her arms, she asked:

"When did you get here?"

I hugged Hanako and nuzzled my face into her hair, not giving her a response. She slowly caressed my back in an attempt to calm me down. Warmth soon spread throughout my body as we squeezed each other to our heart's content, every second I spent in her embrace felt like an eternity.

"Are you crying?" She innocently asked.

"Tch, of course I am! " I sobbed. "I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I suddenly lost you like that, "

"Geez, you really are a worrywart. "

"A worrywart!? It really scared me, you dork!" I pulled her in front of me and put my hands on her shoulders. "If you don't mind me asking... what happened?"

"Umm... I don't remember too much." she said, poking her cheek with her finger. "But! I did see this HUGE monster that was made out of rock! It was being mean to the cute animals outside of this town so I tried to defend them...!"

Hanako disappointedly looked at the ground "But after a few attacks it ended up breaking my shield and sending me flying _waaaaay_ back. It didn't chase me though, so I was able to get away. Pretty lucky, right?"

"Next thing I know, I woke up and now you're here!"

"A monster, huh?"

"Yeah! A really, _really_ big one!"

Looking at her, then at my open palm, then at her once again I asked:

"In this world, you're able to fight such fearsome opponents?"

"Heheheh! I may have lost this time, but don't count me out! I'm really strong!" She proudly boomed, quickly but gently tapping my stomach with her fist. If I had to be honest, I didn't even see her throw the punch in the first place.

"Well, if you're still eager to save those animals..." I said, rewarding Hanako with a pat on the head. "Then I've decided something."

"Oooh, you got a determined look on your face! What is it? What _is it_?"

My brow furrowed as I slowly stood up and gave her a toothy smile. Clenching one of my fists with all my might I drove one hand into the other and roared out:

"Hanakoizumi Anne, lend me your strength! I'm going to make that monster wish it never laid a finger on you! That's a promise!"

Even if Hanako's poor description was a bit childish, I couldn't just underestimate this thing in the slightest. If it was able to injure her _that_ bad... I had to take this 100% seriously.

It may have begun on a bittersweet note, but that is how I started my life in another world with my luck stat set to zero!

_

"And that's why you should be less reckless when it comes to your obsession with all the Creamates!" Kirara yelled at a kneeling Lamp who was still shielding her head just in case Kirara decided to hit her with her staff again.

"I'm sorry~"

Clea, who had watched all of this go down in complete silence, tugged at Kirara's cloak. She turned around and asked:

"Huh? Did you need something?"

"She's had enough don't you think?" Clea chuckled.

"I still think it's an amazing feat, Kirara! " Lamp gushed, holding her face again. "It's the first male Creamate~"

The kneeling girl winced in pain as she's met with yet another whack to the head.

"Ow!"

"Clearly she hasn't had enough." Kirara scoffed, keeping her staff pointed at Lamp.

"She's not wrong... it's like you said, up until now only girls could be summoned. It's a bit weird, don't you think?" Clea grabbed hold of Kirara's staff as the other two girls quickly fell silent. "I just have to ask again!"

"Did you use 'Call' correctly?"

"Clea..."

Kirara softly smiled at the blue-haired girl before turning to face the bustling village in front of her. Today particularly was a rather windy day and because of this, her cloak fluttered slightly. Kirara's eyes narrowed as she hugged her staff.

"You don't need to worry. I'll keep an eye on him."


	2. Creamates, Scriptures, and Preparation

After filling her in on the current situation Kirara's eyebrow raised as she stared attentively at Hanako and I. All of us, excluding Clea, who was adorably dangling her feet off of her chair and reading a huge pink and white book, were sitting in a circle on the ground. It turned out that the place I found myself in was actually Clea's home, which would explain why it was so small and compact.

"And what do you want to do exactly?" Kirara asked.

"I-I... want to defeat the monster that hurt Hanako-san!" I replied sheepishly. Hanako turned to me and tilted her head as if what I just said somehow confused her.

"What?"

"You said it differently before!" Hanako got up and mimicked my previous actions by punching at her open palm. "Hanakoizumi Anne lend me your strength! I'm going to make sure that monst—"

"Stop that, dummy! " I demanded, quickly forced her back into a sitting position as my cheeks began to feel hot from embarrassment. 

"Hanako-sama, you mentioned that this thing was attacking some animals outside of the village, right?" Lamp asked Hanako.

"Mhm, if I didn't step in, they would have been eaten!"

"There has been a lot of reports from farmers about their livestock disappearing over the course of the night without any traces of where they could've gone. Maybe whatever is responsible for doing that and the monster who you encountered are one and the same?"

How terrifying. Back on Earth, it wasn't uncommon for a coyote to sneak its way onto a farm and mercilessly feed on young lambs, but at least in that case, it was easy to recognize what happened because of the tracks and the condition of the carcass the predator left behind.

Hanako had described the thing as "a huge monster made of rock" with emphasis on the word huge. Was I suppose to believe that something the size of a _skyscraper_ didn't leave a single track as it waltzed into a farm and kidnapped a bunch of animals? 

Wait, no.

This was Hanako we're talking about. The same Hanako who I mentioned stood at 4'11. It was very possible that this monster was no taller than me seeing as whenever I would tease her about her height, she would angrily puff out her cheeks and call me a giant despite being only 6 inches taller than her.

Stroking her chin, Kirara nodded. "If that's true, then wouldn't it be smarter for us for an adventurer to take care of this?" 

"Thinking about it, yes. It would be the smart thing to do but I'm not satisfied with someone fighting it. " I replied, keeping my head down. Using one hand I pulled my shirt's collar forward while using the other to point at myself. "It has to be me. No matter what it looks like, no matter how big it is, no matter how much pain I'm going to be put through, it just has to be me. I won't accept it any other way. I'm sorry."

"I hate having to burst your bubble like this, but seeing as you're just about ready to bolt out of here, I have no choice. Right now, you stand absolutely no chance at even scratching a Stone Giant, let alone defeating one. "

"Kirara, don't be so harsh!" Lamp blurted out before being interrupted by Kirara's finger touching her mouth.

"You didn't let me finish what I said right now, didn't I? You and Hanakoizumi-san, just like any other person, can get stronger and I just so happen to know someone who can help with that. "

Clea audibly gasped immediately closing her book and turning to face the four of us. 

"Y-you can't possibly be talking about sending them to 'her', can you? They won't survive! She'll push them too hard!" she quivered, her body language mirroring someone who had just seen a ghost.

Poking my visibly flushed cheeks, Hanako asked.

"Hey, is this one of those training arc things you always complain about in the shows you watch?"

"I mean, if you think about it..." I shook my head, immediately dismissing the very idea of such a comparison. "You were able to learn how to use that sword and shield pretty quickly, right? I'm sure I'll have no problem being taught how to fight. I'm sure it'll be fun!"

Both of us turned to Kirara, Hanako pumping her clenched fists in the air while I raised my head and gave her a grin.

"Please help us get stronger!" we said in unison. 

"Wait, no! You two don't know what you're getting yourself into!" Clea pleaded. She ran to block the door but before got there Lamp managed to grab hold of her.

"Chris-sama and Hanako-sama will be just fine! I have complete faith in them! "

Clea scrunched up her face, let her breath out in a huff and then crossed her arms as she turned away. "Hmph fine! I'm staying here though so don't say I didn't warn you when they start to complain!"

Judging by the way Clea was acting, you could have sworn that we were being sent to some sort of army style boot camp rather than just asking a friend of Kirara's for some help. The fact that we were also now playing the pronoun game when it comes to this friend also didn't ease my heart in the slightest...

"... Will we really be okay?

-

The cobblestone road that was beneath my feet and the buildings of different sizes that were also made of the same material couldn't help but make me think of this place as the run of the mill starting village in a fantasy RPG. Every few steps, a merchant would approach us and try to persuade us to buy something before being shooed away by Kirara waving her staff at them. Speaking of Kirara, she was currently leading the way as we all drifted behind her.

"Hey Lamp, where was it? This place is nice and all, but where are we exactly?" I asked suddenly, putting my hands behind my head as we continued to walk. 

"This small village is where Kirara grew up! Even though I've known her for so long I still don't know the name so I just call it Kirara's Village,"

"I see.."

"You're not from here, Lamp-chan?" Hanako added. 

"Nope, my home is far, far away from here. Walking alone would take 2 weeks just to get to where I really live," Lamp answered. "I just decided that I wanted to constantly see all the amazing Creamates that Kirara summons like you and Chris-sama, so I mostly just sleep in Clea's house!"

"There it is again." I interrupted.

"You keep referring to us like we're royalty or something, it's sorta weird. The moment I showed up I didn't even have to introduce myself, you just knew who I was and the fact that I was dating Hanako-san as if you were aware of these things from the beginning. Even now, you give off the impression of a friend who I've known for a very long time but never met. "

Hanako clung to my arm before I could finish my thought. "We're more than just dating! We're lovers!" She beamed so bright that I couldn't bring myself to look her in the eye. Well, that and it was a little embarrassing to have her hanging on to me like that. Personal space was never Hanako's strong suit.

"L-lovers..." I faintly scratched at my face before turning back to Lamp.

"You're not a stalker or anything like that, a-are you?"

"You don't know?" Lamp ran up ahead, kicked her foot forward and twirled around the three of us while villagers gave her looks of disapproval as they passed us by.

"You don't know what the scriptures are?"

"No. I don't."

The girl squealed in delight, making me flinch and cover my ears in retaliation.  
"I just love telling this to people~" she circled us 2— no, 3 times before clasping both her hands together and returning back to a walking pace. "At the very heart of Etoilia, way, _waaaaay_ up in the sky a floating sanctuary shines brightly. Our goddess, the great and magnificent Sola-sama has the power to observe other worlds, and with this ability she noted the everyday lives of people from those worlds. 

"These notes became the holy books known as The Scriptures! All beings that are found in these sacred texts are called Creamates and are summonable by Kirara!"

Pointing at my eyes, I asked.

"Does that mean I don't have worry about these?" 

"Well, not exactly... I personally love and cherish the scriptures and everyone in them, but as you travel around you start to notice that not everyone believes in them. In this village, people may not mind your stare but in another town, you could get into trouble, Chris-sama!"

"That makes sense but can you possibly not use _"-sama"_ to refer to me... It's sorta weird, you know?"

"But why?"

"Chris here gets embarrassed really easy! Watch this!" Hanako got up on the tip of her toes and kissed me on the cheek. 

"Hey! We're in public, dummy!" I stuttered as I stretched and pulled on her cheeks.

"Shee Lamp-chan! I told you!"

Lamp quickly got on both knees and prostrated herself, basically awarding herself with a variety of brand new looks from oncoming villagers. 

"I'm sorry, but please find it in your heart of hearts to forgive me! How could I be so insensitive! I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you, I promise!" 

"God, call me what you want, but just get up, please..." I groaned. 

Lamp sprung to her feet and gave me another salute "Right away, Chris-sama!" 

"Ugh..."

-

"Wow! It's huge in here!" Hanako exclaimed as she ran around the larger than life stadium with stars in her eyes. Aside from it being completely intact the open roof which clearly displayed the blue sky above, the circular shape of the building and the red and yellow banners that hung on the outer walls reminded me of The Colosseum in Rome. A slight difference between that historical landmark and this building was that there was a second floor riddled with training dummies.

Instead of the cobblestone bricks that were all over the village, covering the entire place was the sandy grass-covered ground.

"Oh my, Kirara, is that you? What brings you here?" An older and more well-endowed woman asked as she attempted to run over to us in her high heels. She seemed like she was in her early to mid 20's and wore a light green apron.

"It's been a while, Leine-san." Kirara said, smiling as the two embraced each other.

"I've brought two new trainees for you." She turns over to me. "Don't just stand there, introduce yourself already!" 

Apparently, it was still in good manners to introduce yourself even if they already knew everything about you.

I nodded and then leaned forward into a bow.

"Tennomifune Academy, class 1-7, seat number 39, Chris. Nice to meet you. I would like to apologize for everything my uhh ...lover... breaks in advance. Her name is Hanakoizumi Anne and I'm sure she means well."

"Fufufu!" Leine laughed, propping her chest up with her arm. "what a nice boy! I must warn you though. Flattery won't make me ease up on you in the slightest. Is there anything specific I can help you with?"

I explained the whole situation to Leine and how I quickly wanted to get stronger so that I could defeat the thing that had hurt someone important to me.

"Oooh, how noble of you! Unfortunately what Kirara said is very much true. You can't just expect to face off against a Stone Giant just yet. Especially when you two don't even know how to use magic yet."

"Magic!" I exclaimed. "Wait. It's obvious that I don't know about that sort of thing, but Hanako-san has somehow been here longer than me. How are you so sure she doesn't know how to use magic?"

"Isn't it obvious, dear? If your partner knew magic, you and I wouldn't be having this conversation." 

"Wait.. .so she would have—"

"Completely and utterly destroyed it." Leine explained.

"The creatures of this world are fierce and outright terrifying at times. However, the reason we've been able to fight against them is because all of us have the strength to do so. As the owner of these training grounds, I personally believe that no matter where you start off, everyone has the ability to become extremely strong!" She winked and swiftly pointed directly at me as a smile crept its way on to my face.  
"You too have great potential within yourself. Just leave it all to the village's big sister to make sure you can make use of it!"

"Hanako-san and I will be in your care, Leine-sensei!" I announced, grinning like an idiot.


	3. A Natural Born Prodigy

Magic. 

The power of apparently influencing a course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces. 

When I was a kid, I often found myself in awe whenever I was glued to the TV and a supposed magician would somehow manage to pull a rabbit out of its hat or catch a bullet with his teeth. Unfortunately, as you get older, you realize that seemingly amazing magic tricks like that are nothing more than just that. Tricks. There's a secret compartment in both the hat and the table it lays upon and when the "magician" says his magic words he simply pulls the rabbit out of the opening. And for the bullet catch, the glass is already set up to be destroyed and the gun can only fire blanks. 

In this world, this was completely different. 

A childlike wonder filled my body when Leine mentioned that magic was something that everyone in Etolia was able to use. No tricks. No secret compartments. Real, combat-orientated magic!

After getting her down from the banners that she got herself stuck on, Hanako and I sat on our knees while we continued to pay close attention to Leine's lesson. Our new instructor had wheeled a whiteboard onto the training grounds so that she could explain things better.

"Alright! Your big sister would like to start things off with a question!" Leine leaned forward, putting her hands behind her back. "There's no right or wrong answers, so make sure to give me some creative ones, okay?" We both nodded in agreement as her lips curved into a smile. "When you hear the phrase 'in another world', what do you think of?"

I raised my hand. "Hey, Leine-sensei—"

"Please, call me Onee-chan."

"No," I replied instantly. "What does this have to do with magic?"

"You have to be more patient, my dear. You can't just skip to the end of a book and expect to know what happened in the middle. We're getting to it so sit, alright?"

Hanako shot her arm up and began to squirm. "Hanakoizumi-chan?"

"Rubbing the tails of fluffy kitsunes~" she said, melting back into her sitting position.

"How'd I already know you were going to bring animals into this?!" I uttered under my breath.

"Huuh? But they're so soft! You wouldn't wanna pat me if I suddenly grew fox ears and a huge bushy tail!"

"I didn't say that... I'd probably be unable to keep my hands off of you."

"Ah! you're getting all red again, Chris..."

Leine drew a stick figure with two lopsided triangles on its head in the top right corner, much to the delight of Kirara and Lamp, who were standing behind us. They both softly snickered to themselves at the sight of Leine's amazing artistic skills. 

"That's a wonderful answer, Hanakoizumi-chan! Maybe if you're lucky enough you can do that one day!" Leine narrowed her eyes, shifting her gaze back to me. "What about you, Chris?"

"Mag—"

"Something that isn't magic! Come on, don't be stubborn or else you'll make your big sister angry and you wouldn't want that, would you?"

I puffed my cheeks out at her and said "Geez, you're really pushing this whole big sister thing, aren't you?" Resting my chin between my index finger and thumb, I closed my eyes. "In another world, huh? I can't help but think of fighting against a demon lord."

"There's that nobility of yours showing again!" Leine said as she clapped her hands together. She turned to the whiteboard and copies the same poorly done drawing she drew earlier, this time putting it in the left corner.

"Pffft... I'm sorry, Leine-san! I was daydreaming for a second, which one is which again?" Kirara said.

"Eh? It's not obvious? I worked really hard on these!" she puts a frown on the left picture. "This one is clearly the demon lord Kirara... "

"I see, I see! Now that I look at it that makes perfect sense!"

Leine overdramatically puts her hand on her head as if she was about to faint. "Oh no! it seems a bunch of kitsunes with fluffy tails are being harassed by a demon lord!" 

Hanako's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?! We have to go save them right now!" 

"You're absolutely right Hanakoizumi-chan!"

"A demon lord has subordinates, don't they?" I asked. "Why would they bother with that sort of thing when they can just get someone else to do it?"

Leine's eyes drooped. "Well, this one is a lonely demon lord! And since he's being such a nuisance, we have to beat him, right?" She signaled for me to come join her in front of the 'class'. Once I got there she put her arm around my shoulder and continued to teach. "To fight someone like this, we have to gather up a party of heroes! In this world, everyone is born as 1 class out of a possible 5. Knight, Warrior, Alchemist, Priest—" Leine delivered a sickening blow to my stomach as a gust of wind exits the other side of my body.

"—And Mage."

I dropped to my knees as it became increasingly more difficult to breathe. Back when I was in Tennomifune, I was no stranger to getting winded by Hibiki, but this was on a whole other level. It was like I was breathing through a straw that was slowly getting more narrow as time went on. Hanako rushed to my aid as I continued to wheeze and cough.

"That was mean, Leine-chan!" She glared at her, then gave her attention back to me.

"Are you alright?"

"Kuh... just fine. Don't worry about me."

Kirara crossed her arms and smiled. "As expected of Leine-san. You already knew his class without even needing me to tell you."

"I just guessed dear, he was also getting on my nerves just a bit." she said, flicking her hair. "Every class has its pro's and cons. Well, I say cons; but I think you should see these slight inconveniences as starting points." She pointed at me.

"You and I are mages, we have the highest capacity of magic out of all other classes and are also potentially the most dangerous when it comes to a long ranged fight. Unfortunately, the downside is that we are said to be extremely squishy." — Then to Hanako.

"Judging by your partner's armor I'm guessing she's a knight. She's able to easily tank hits that would be otherwise fatal to most other classes and is extremely slow as a result." 

Leine raised her chin, spreading both arms wide. "But! My dear students, this is to be expected! Once learning about their class, a lot of people tend to only focus on perfecting what they're already good at and ignoring their drawbacks."

"So what you're saying is that we can train our bodies to overcome the weaknesses of our classes while still reaping the benefits, right?" I asked.

"Exactly!"

"That makes enough sense. You getting any of this, Hanako?"

She fiddled with her thumbs before blankly nodding her head. "I think I get it! But this won't be on the test, will it?"

"Fufufu, there's no exam, dear but if I were to make one, this next part would be really important." Leine said, covering up her giggle with her hand. She flipped the whiteboard to the other side and drew a hexagon with the letters C, R, E, and A in the middle. 

"Cruh..ee?"

"Crea, Hanakoizumi-chan. Seeing as you guys came here with Lamp, I'm sure both of you are aware of the scriptures. To put it simply, all of the magic in this world stems directly from the stuff that Sola-sama wrote and blessed us with. Crea is our source of power."

"Bless her soul!" Lamp said as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"But what's with the weird shape?"

"The way we use Crea is divided into 6 elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, and Dark. All of us have an affinity for one of these elements.

"T-this is for earlier! Um, [Water Blast]!" A thin stream of water comes out of my pointed finger before immediately wetting the ground. 

Leine scoffed, ignoring my pathetic attempt at revenge. "Technically, everyone can use all elements, but unless you find something like _that_ particularly useful, I suggest you stick to your affinity."

"Hmph!"

"Hey, you're forgetting something, aren't you?" said Kirara, pointing her staff at Leine. 

"Oh, am I now? What could that possibly be?"

"Leine..."

"Leine...?"

"Onee-chan. Leine-oneechan..." Kirara mumbled.

Her face immediately lit up. "That's right, I just remembered! There are those who are born with a specific skill and can't use any type of magic as a result."

"My [Call] ability is an example of this." Kirara stood beside Leine and tightened her grip on her staff. "even something as simple as that little splash of water is impossible for me."

"But you were the one that healed Hanako-san, weren't you? Healing magic is still magic the last time I checked." I said, leaning closer towards the two of them.

"In exchange for not being able to hit hard and nearly as bad at taking damage as a mage, the priest class can heal others even if they don't have an affinity towards light magic."

I felt a bead of sweat run down my face. "That's a lot of drawbacks for just being able to heal, don't you think?"

"Maybe, but when I'm not summoning others, I'm working on how to use this staff of mine in combat so when I do have to fight I'm not completely useless."

"Hey, Chris!" Hanako cheered, tugging at my sleeve.

"Just a second, Hanako-san."

"Chris, Chris. Heeey."

"Ugh, what is it?" 

In her palms that radiated a white light, a small kitten gazed up at me. Judging by how it hadn't attacked her yet, it was safe to assume that this was something of Hanako's creation. 

I ran my hands through her hair as I began to chuckle. "Even in this world, you're 10 steps ahead of me, huh? Great job!"

"As expected of Hanako-sama!" Lamp rejoiced. "How'd you do it?"

"Ehehe, I'm not really sure. I just kinda tensed my body and thought about what I wanted to make really hard and poof! This little guy was made!"

Both Kirara and Leine's faces went white. Kirara dropped to her hands and knees out of despair while Leine approached Hanako, her eyes twinkling with astonishment.

"Such complex shapes and attention to detail... this is amazing, Hanakoizumi-chan," She paused to take a better look at the cat.

"Even for a creamate that was extremely fast. You really are a 1 in 100 prodigy!"

As Leine continued to praise Hanako I shuffled my way to the depressed Kirara. "Hey... sorry to bother, but since Hanako's affinity is Light, what's mine?"

"Less than a day... and she figured how to use her power with ease..."

"Hey, I'm talking to you." I poked her a few times before I continued.

"What's my affinity?"

"It's fire. Now leave me alone to sulk." She said, not looking up from the ground. "It has been less than half a day, now that I think about it... "

"Fire and light, huh? Not a bad combo." I tensed up my hand.

The sounds of pops and sizzling echoed throughout the training grounds. A single line of smoke goes upwards grabbing the attention of the others.

"Hey Leine-sensei, how's this? Am I doing it properly?"

"Huh, that's weird."

"What is? The fact that two natural born prodigies are in your presence right now?" I said, my chin raised proudly upwards.

She shook her head before putting a hand on my shoulder. "Usually when people have an affinity for fire they're able to at least produce some sort of flame when they start out, but it looks like you can't manage that right now." 

"What?"

I dropped to my knees and joined Kirara's sulking party while Leine covered her mouth, making a "fu fu" sound. "Now that I know both of your affinities and where you stand skill wise, we can finally start our little training regimen. I'm going to be strict with you!"

"Nope, just kidding. Just leave it to your big sister to draw out that flame of yours!"

-

Crea. 

The power every living being has been blessed with by our one and only goddess, Sola-sama.

Perhaps if I knew what was to come, I would have been satisfied with pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally written in June 2019, way before Leine became a playable character in Kirara Fantasia.
> 
> Her class in the actual game is Sun/Light Warrior.


	4. Polka The Blacksmith

Hanako had already figured out how to use magic in an effective way and because of this lightly trained with Kirara to work on her speed issue and find out the limits to her new creation ability.

Me on the other hand...

Running laps around the village with a heavy boulder on my back with the punishment for collapsing being having to start over from the beginning. Doing core exercises in multiples of 500, adding on plus ten every five seconds I spent not doing anything, and sparring until my body gave out to help with my "squishiness". This was just a small glimpse into the reality that had been my last 3 days under Leine's guidance. 

Today, however, was slightly different. Instead of starting with warmups Leine decided that it would be a good idea to spar first thing in the morning. 

"Alright, dear!" she said, crouching into a fighting stance. "This may hurt a bit but I want you to try your best!"

Putting one foot in front of the other, I raised both my hands. "Got it, Onee-chan!"

"Looks like you've finally accepted me as your big sister, huh?"

"I just noticed that you tend to hit me harder when I don't call you that."

Kicking up sand, Leine exploded towards me. I jumped back barely avoiding her patented jab to the stomach. Before my feet could touch the ground a strong gust of wind flung me backward. As I dug my fingers into the ground to stop me from crashing into a wall, I couldn't help but notice Leine giggling to herself. 

"If getting hit is a problem for you maybe I should keep throwing you around like that?" Her tone of voice was still as aloof as ever. Almost irritatingly so. It made perfect sense, she had the upper hand after all.

In terms of pure strength, Leine had me beat. She used her wind affinity to boost the impact of her attacks to the point where I don't really consider her human anymore. Though, I have noticed that this godly multiplier she had only was applied to her hands and feet. Leine's fighting style went against everything she taught me being a mage was about and because of this inspired me to attempt something similar.

"You and I both know that would be no fun." I loudly exhaled as I rose to my feet. Looking at my teacher I shouted "[Shroud]!"

Fsssssh.

"Tch, no dice,"

The palm of my right hand glowed with a bright orange tint, much to my dismay. Despite having an affinity towards fire I've had been unable to summon any actual flames. 

Leine winded back and struck the air, pushing me back further. My back touching the wall of the arena, she rushed me once more as desperation started to set in. As she goes for a strike to the face, I firmly grabbed her hand causing her to hiss out of pain. I couldn't react before Leine swiftly twisted her body into a side kick, this time blowing herself back and creating a large crater in the wall where she launched my limp body.

"Heal time!" said Hanako as she raised her open palm in the air declaring Leine's flawless victory. Both Kirara and Hanako jumped down from the second floor they were both attentively watching from and tended to the two of us.

I lost. Again. In the last two battles with Leine I had been able to get a few hits in before I was ultimately blown away. I'm much slower than I was on the first day which was to be expected but still, it stung just a bit. Here we were on day 3 and my body was already trying to quit on me. It was kinda pathetic. How could I possibly go against that giant on my own if I couldn't fight someone the same size as me? 

"You did great out there, " she lightly tapped my face, jolting me awake.

A groan escaped my lips as I craned my neck to look down at Hanako. "If by great you mean I got absolutely destroyed then yes. I did amazing."

"You tried your best right? That's all that matters so don't be so harsh on yourself."

"Ha..I'll try I guess."

After Hanako helped me down from the huge Chris-sized hole, Kirara placed her hand over me but before she could heal me I put both my hands out and said "No need to waste your magic on me I'll just walk this off Kirara."

"Huh?! But—"

"If he says he's fine then he's fine, " Leine staggered towards us, blowing on her hand as she got closer, "that really hurt you know? I didn't think you would actually burn me like that!" she whined. Clasping both hands together Leine's expression closed up. "This spar was shorter than usual but it seems that you've come up with your first technique?"

"Yeah...[Shroud]. It's supposed to increase the speed and strength of my entire body but as you can see it didn't work."

"What's this? A mage who fights close-ranged? Where could you have gotten such an idea! Blasphemy!" 

"Your sarcasm isn't helping, Onee-chan."

If the problem with mages is that they're 'squishy' why not just rush your opponents and deal with them quickly? Staying back at a distance and shooting fire would get boring after a while, not that I could do that either at this point.

"Awawa..."

Awkwardly stumbling to my aid with her giant key in her hands was Clea. It turned out that she had been watching our battle (read: one-sided massacre) from the entrance. 

"I-I told you that Leine would push you guys too hard! It's making me worry!" she said, her legs trembling as she quickly turned to me. "Especially you Chris-kun, your clothing's full of holes and you're all scuffed up."

The baggy white t-shirt I was once wearing was now looking more like a tattered tank top. There was no denying that Leine was pushing me pretty hard but I never thought that it would affect my clothes this much.

"Ah, long time no see Clea-senpai."

"S-S-Senpai?!"

"You'd be a grade higher than me and Hanako-san if we were back at Tennomifune so I thought it would fitting title," Once I realized the mistake that I made I flailed my arms, confusing both Clea and Hanako. "That was creepy wasn't it? M-maybe I should have asked first, I'm sorry!"

Unfortunately, it was too late for an apology. Judging by the way Clea's face was contorting into all sorts of emotions it seemed that she had entered the hardest battle of her life. One against herself! 

"Senpai..senpai..senpai," she repeated under her breath. A devious smile curved its way onto Clea's lips as she puffed out her chest and proudly put her hands on her hips. "That's right! I am older, aren't I? It's about time people treated me the right age."

Now standing up on her tippy toes Clea put her arms around me and Hanako. "How about I take you guys out to get something to eat? I'm sure you must be starving from all the hard work that you've been doing. How about ice cream? It'll be your senpai's treat!"

Did I strike a nerve just now?

"Ice cream with your friends, how fun! It seems that you might be forgetting about something but your big sister just can't put her finger on it," Leine said.

"Eeep!"

"Well, now that you're here you can join us. We were just about to practice our swings with iron clubs! And after that, we can do some light exercises. How about 500 pushups and situps to start?"

"That's not light exercise at all, you'll break me!"

"Nope, it is. For Leine that is," I whispered to Clea. 

Hanako gasped. "I almost forgot, Leine-chan, Leine-chan!"

"Something wrong, dear?"

"Umm, is Polka-chan done with my sword and shield? I need to start getting used to moving around with them again."

"Oh, she's done alright, " Leine folded her arms, propping up her chest. "Polkas been bugging me to come pick them up but with all of my attention going towards training you two I haven't had any time."

Clea's eyes lit up as she jolted upright. "Me! I'll do it! I can go get Hanako-chan's weapons, I'm a big girl!"

Despite saying that not so convincing line..she was still tiny. In my eyes, this was the equivalent to sending a child on their first errand. It was a little worrying thinking about what could happen to Clea on her way to this "Polka" person. Even if we were in another world, there are alot of sketchy people out there. Well, that and if she did manage to retrieve Hanako's stuff I didn't think she would be able to come back without collapsing from the sheer weight of the equipment.

"U-um..I'll go too." 

Smiling ear to ear, Hanako said "Great, that makes three of us!"

Before I could say anything Clea had grabbed and raised both of our hands in the air. 

"Make sure to stay close to me, you two! I don't want my precious kouhais getting lost. Maybe if you're good we can still go out for ice cream." she said, lost in her own delusions.

Ah, I definitely struck a nerve by calling her senpai but it's not like I was planning on stopping anytime soon. The happiness class senpais rarely showed themselves outside the culture festival and sports day so I never got the chance to meet any of them properly, not that it would go well or anything. Clea-senpai. It just rolls off the tongue! To say that it wasn't cute seeing her all riled up like this would be a complete lie. More importantly, was it just me or did she just want ice cream?

Leine cleared her throat making Clea jump again, "You can go but as soon as you get Hanakoizumi-chan's sword and shield from Polka I expect you three to come back immediately, " with her eyes closed, she gave me a smirk, "We still have alot of things to work on, right Chris?"

I nodded before quickly heading towards the door. "Hanako-san, Senpai, let's get this over with and hurry back, ok? I'll lead the way."

"Aye, aye captain!"

"You've never even been to Polka's shop before, " Clea said, "what do you're mean leading the way?! Hanako-chan? Chris-kun?! Wait for me!"

-

-

"Ne, Chris catch!" I managed to catch the apple Hanako threw at me and took a bite. She proudly marched as she lead us forward.

"Thanks, I'll buy you something 10 times better just you wait." 

How we managed to wander our way to the one place in the village that was full of food stands at every corner was beyond me but I wasn't going to complain. An outing like this gave me a much-needed breather and some time to come up with a gameplan. Early in the morning yesterday, I sent Lamp out to do some research on the stone giant so that I could know what exactly I was dealing with and Lamp being Lamp she was more than happy enough to do that for me. 

Spending some more time with Hanako wasn't too bad either...

"So how long have you two been together?" Clea looked up at me as we continued to walk. 

Crap, I was wearing my heart on my sleeve again, wasn't I? "D-don't you already know? It's like Lamp said, the everyday lives of creamates are recorded in the scriptures."

"Lamp-chan is...kinda addicted to the scriptures. It's scary how much she knows compared to a normal person."

"Oh, well if you must know, I've known her ever since I was younger so I guess we're kinda childhood friends. She was my only friend until I got into high school. That's when Hanako and I met a bunch of new people. Hibiki and Ren managed to help me get over myself enough to properly confess to her and that was a year ago, I think? We've been really happy ever since then," I aggressively scratched the back of my head with both hands, "ah man, I never got to properly thank them before I got sent here."

Upon finishing my story, Clea held her face and audibly sighed. It looked as if she was on cloud nine. "Friends to lovers, it's almost like a fairy tale. I hope I can have somebody feel that way about me." she said, her words sounding bittersweet as they left her mouth, "it's a bit hard to imagine though."

"Don't say things like that I'm sure anybody would be happy with somebody as cute as you," is what I wanted to say but could I really say something like that out loud? I stuck my hands in my pockets and stared straight ahead. 

A certain food stand caught my eye, the sign at the bottom read "strawberry mochi". Hanako was always a huge fan of strawberry milk so maybe she would like something like this too. It wasn't until I was face to face with the merchant that I came to the realization that unlike Hanako who was given gold by Kirara for paying attention and doing well during her training, I was completely broke. 

The merchant looked at me up and down before dismissively waving his hand. "If you're expecting me to give you free food you can forget it, you bum!" he said. I raised an eyebrow at him. "I suggest you don't get violent and steal from me either, you won't get far before you're caught."

"You've got the wrong idea I'm just looking—"

"Away! Shoo shoo!"

Pushing me aside, Clea gave some coins to the man and beamed brightly at him. "5 strawberry mochi, mister!"

"Is that you Clea-chan?" The man's expression lit up as he quickly gave her a small bowl with the food she ordered, "What brings you all the way here today? You've grown so much since the last time I've seen you!"

"Leine sent me on an errand!"

"Oooh, make sure to hurry back you don't wanna make her worry," his tone of voice quickly soured, "also watch out for creeps like him. You'll never know where they'll pop out from."

"Thanks, mister! I'll try my best!"

The moment we exited the food stand portion of the village, Clea pushed the bowl against my chest. "For Hanako-chan, right?"

"Huh? W-Well yeah..but you didn't have to waste your money on me! I would have bought it for her eventually." I said, crossing my arms. 

Clea shook her head. "It's not a waste at all, I'm happy to spoil my kouhais any time. Besides, you wouldn't be able to buy from that guy looking like that. Leine's been really working you, huh?"

"Yeah but I think the end is going to justify the means. That giant isn't going to fight itself."

"You say that but your clothing is telling me a different story. I don't want you to injure yourself."

"Honestly, you're really confusing senpai."

Clea's eyes suddenly went round. "Why do you say that?"

"I don't get it. You're being so nice to me but we didn't really start off on the right foot," it wasn't necessarily too long ago that I had her pinned up against a wall. Three days ago she couldn't look me in the eye and yet here she was worried about my health, "if I was you I wouldn't be as fast to forgive me."

"I told you I wasn't going to hold that against you, remember? I'm sure if I saw a loved one hurt I would be just as mad. Obviously, I had my doubts at first but you really don't seem like a bad guy. Just a bit reckless, I think. Your love for her is really sweet."

"Senpai.."

"From this moment on, you and I are friends so don't beat yourself up over what happened before," Clea said as her smile quickly faded, "I have to ask though, is all of this really necessary? You're refusing to be healed and overexerting yourself. Hanako-chan is safe and sound isn't she? I don't think she'd want you to end up in the same condition she was in. What I'm trying to say is...do you really need to go against that thing that attacked her?"

I scratched at my face and gave her a bitter laugh. "That's a silly question, Clea. I promised her that I was going to fight. My body will hold up just fine even if I have to force it to. Besides, how worthless would I have to be to break two promises in less than a week."

"Two?"

Before I could be questioned any further I ran ahead and caught up with Hanako, giving her the bowl of mochi. Drawing in a long breath, I yelled "Oi!!! Hanako-san, eat these. Clea helped me pay for them, I think you'll like them alot!"

"Thanks a million. I'm gonna buy you something 100 times better!" 

"Ehhh? I'd like to see you try, you dork!"

As Clea was caught up with us two she sneaked up behind me and poked me in my sides. "Chris-kun you big jerk, you left me behind again," she said, pursing her lips into a pout.

"Ow, ow, ow, I'm still sore!"

-

-

The dimly lit shop— only illuminated by the orange tint of the furnace in the back had spears, maces, and an assortment of other weapons that hung on the walls. All over the place mannequin's in full body armor struck poses as they swung their swords much to my amusement. The one that piqued my interest was holding up a peace sign and triumphantly held its weapon up in the air.

A well-toned girl with a red bra and cat ear-shaped goggles sat behind the counter, her short bangs with long sides that went to her shoulders gave off a tomboyish look. Compared to Hanako's which was more of a pumpkin orange color, Polka's hair that was poorly done up in a bun had a persimmon tint to it. 

The moment we got in the door Polka shot up and opened her arms. "Hanacchi, good to see you up and about," she said, cheerfully. Her eyes drifted towards me, widening in surprise before leaning over the counter and whispering, "is this boy you were mentioning? He looks kinda mad."

"T-tennomifune Academy, class 1-7—"

"Yup! This is my boyfriend, Chris!" Hanako said. "He does that sometimes but don't pay it any mind he wouldn't hurt a fly, watch this." She gestured for me to come over to her. I took small two steps forward as my cheeks became flushed, "closer, closer!" then two more. "Gyuuuu!"

Hanako pulled me into a hug and squeezed as if her life depended on it. Melting into her arms, I nuzzled her chest. "See," she said, ruffling my hair, "completely harmless."

"You're treating him more like a plush toy than a boyfriend." Clea laughed.

Polka held her nose and stuck out her tongue. "Gross! If you're going to be all lovey-dovey you can do that outside." Pointing directly at me with a blank face, she said "more importantly, you look like a bum."

How blunt! 

"Trust me, you're not the first or last person to notice that today. While we're here do you have something I could change into?" I said.

"Depends on what you want. It'll cost you too."

"I figured as much, how about a long-sleeved sweater or something?"

Polka looked at me with confusion in her eyes. "I'm not sure I follow."

"Pssst Chris," Hanako whispered, pointing at her shoulders. "Fantasy, remember? Let's get matching designs!"

I nodded. "Did I say a sweater? How silly of me! What I really want is something that I can move around freely in. Add some 4 leaf clovers over it too!"

"You two aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, are you?" Polka said, her eyelids drooped. "I'm a blacksmith. Black. Smith. I make armor and weapons, not clothes. Mrrrrn~ Hanacchi! This is the first time I've seen you in a while and it's for this?"

"Ehehe, sorry about that," Hanako said, scratching the back of her head.

Clea walked up to the counter and got up on her tippy toes, catching the attention of the blacksmith. "Um..actually Polka, Leine sent us on an errand. Chris-kun and Hanako-chan are working very hard under her."

"T-that demon coach sent you, why didn't you say that earlier?! What'd she want?"

"She said that you were done fixing Hanako-chan's weapons?"

"Oh, right," Hanako, Polka and I blankly said in unison, "the sword and shield."

"You all forgot?!"

Polka went under the counter and came back with a silver blade with golden clovers embroidered on to the weapon, its pommel was in the shape of a phoenix spreading its wings with the knuckle guard acting as the tail. The part that stuck out the most to me was the red tape that was covering grip. To say it was an impressive sword would be an understatement. 

Back at home I often had to look over Hanako's shoulder whenever she tried to use a knife to cook, could she really be trusted with a weapon of this caliber? Hell, I don't think I would be able to swing something like that without fear of losing a limb. 

"You made this? Amazing.." said Clea.

"Hahaha if you think that's impressive feast your eyes on this!" Polka said as she slammed the shield down. Something told me that she had witnessed Hanako's bad luck firsthand because it also resembled a white four-leaf clover with a smaller dark green clover in the middle of it. As she leaned forward, she continued, "The sword was easy, just a few dents here and there but the shield? Oh boy. Truth is Hanacchi and friends, I wasn't able to completely get it to the way it was originally. When it came to me it was split into four! Luckily for you all, good ole Polka came up with the perfect solution," 

SNAP!

Just like that Polka tore off a single piece of the shield and tossed it into my hands. "By tinkering a little I was able to make the 4 clovers detachable so when you're far away from your opponent you can still attack them. You're going to need good aim though."

Upon getting the equipment handed to her, Hanako's face lit up like a little kid on Christmas morning. "Waaaah! You're awesome Polka-chan, thank you so much," she said. As Hanako turned to me, I ducked in order to avoid having my head taken off, "what do you think Chris? Does it fit me, huh, huh?"

"I think you should watch where you swing that thing!"

"Woopsie, it's been a while since I've held both at once. I'm still getting used to all this extra space I take up." 

"To think that she'd take in new trainees after such a long time. Ahhh~ just the thought brings back a ton of memories. Not all good ones though." Polka hopped over the counter and crouched, stretching her legs, "I'm sure Leine'll be angry if I keep you here for too long so let's get going, you three."

"You're tagging along with us?" Clea asked. "You have a shop to tend to so you can't just blow off your responsibilities like that."

"Grrr, I knew you'd say something like that. It isn't like business was booming anyways, I can take a little break if I need it." Picking up the smaller girl, Polka hoisted Clea over her shoulder as she kicked her feet and squirmed. "And I need one right now! Hanacchi, Chris-kun, onwards to the training ground!" 

"Down! Down! Let me down!"

"Ah wait a second, Polka," I said, stopping her dead in her tracks. Clea locked her gaze onto me, giving me a hopeful smile.

"Hm?"

"Just wanted to ask if it was you who made Hanako-san's armor."

Clea scrunched up her face. "That's what you care about right now?" 

"Right you are! Did my masterful craft stand out so much that it piqued your interest? Maybe you actually wanna buy some armor from me? It would help out a bunch."

"Nope, it was more of a gut feeling. I'm broke anyway so it's not like I have a choice in the matter."

"Boo. Your loss anyways."

Just what kind of bad luck did this poor blacksmith witness to riddle every piece of equipment Hanako owned with good luck charms...

-

-

"Hey, Leine! How's that diet of yours going—"

Fwoosh.

If there was one thing that was for certain, Leine sure knew how to hit hard and I was just thankful it wasn't me on the receiving end this time. Polka dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Holding her stomach and violently kicking her feet, she managed to wheeze out a sentence. "Good to see you too demon coach.." 

Leine flicked her eyes to the three of us then to Polka again. "My, my, it's still daylight out dear, What brings you here today? You weren't lying about being done, were you? That would make your big sister really sad," 

"I wasn't, I wasn't! Hanacchi's over there," she desperately pointed to Hanako who proudly held up her weapons, "geez! Have more faith in me, you know I'm no good at lying."

"Clea." Leine's voice was firm. Had she done something wrong? Maybe we took too long at the food stands on the way back. All of those pesky salesmen had tried to trick Hanako into wasting the rest of her gold on their food so I did what any normal person would do. That being using her buckler shield to push them out of our way. Though, it cost us a bit of time since they kept crowding around all of us. 

The smaller girl squirmed under her gaze, looking straight at the ground. Leine kneeled down and placed a hand on Clea's head, giving her a reassuring smile. "You did a great job. Thanks for doing this for me, I really appreciate it."

"A-ah well, it was nothing a reliable and respected senpai like me couldn't handle," Clea said, her face turning a scarlet red. 

Polka scoffed as she laid face down in the sand, "You sure talk alot for someone who was carried all the way home,"

"Leine can you hit her again?" 

"Chris-sama! I'm back!" A voice called out from behind, making me jump in surprise. It was Lamp. An exhausted and sleep-deprived Lamp but still Lamp nonetheless. She was holding the same pink and white book I had seen at Clea's house a few days prior. 

"I did just what you said, all the info about the monster is all in here," she said, giving me a thumbs-up. Despite the bags that were clearly under her eyes she still tried to keep up her cheery attitude.

"Great! I knew I could count on you, Lamp."

"Y-y-you praised me?! I'll cherish this moment for the rest of my life, I promise! When people tell me to recall this day I shall proudly recite these words to the—"

"Yeah, no. Don't do that."

"I'll just make a mental note then," she said with a wink.

Lamp handed over the book and I flipped to the back. My eyes widened, I started to read the neatly written notes as my hands began to shake. 

Was I scared? Why was I scared?

The colossal beast I was going to face stood at the height of around 15 meters. Its skin was protected by the layers upon layers of stone that covered every inch of its body. The Stone Giant's arms were long and muscular and its legs were strong and curved. Somehow, it had a humanoid-like figure. Using its club made out of the same material as its makeshift armor, this giant would only attack if provoked when hunting for its prey. 

That was the weapon that broke Hanako's shield into pieces? A simple stone club? It was stupid of me to think that I was getting closer to being able to face this thing. Hanako was a knight and I'm a mage. That means I can't take as much damage as her...if it did that to her then—

No. That was my fear speaking. I can't keep breaking my promises to her. This thing hurt Hanako so the only one allowed to fight is me—

Worthless. Why is this body of mine so pathetic? I'm going to let her down again—

I'm thinking about this all wrong, maybe if I get lucky I'll be able to—

Luck has nothing to do with this! 

My grip on the book tightened, it was my fault that she almost got killed. I wasn't there for her. It was because of my own weakness that I couldn't protect her when she needed it the most. It's all because..I'm weak.

"I'm afraid because I'm weak," I tried to convince myself as my stomach churned. That had to be the reason. I wasn't pushing this good for nothing body hard enough and because of this others were suffering. 

"..ama! Chris-sama!" Lamp said, waving her gloved hands in front of my face, "are you alright? Your hands aren't steady and you're starting to look really pale."

All eyes were on me. Polka. Hanako. Kirara, who was oddly silent as she watched from above. Everyone. If Clea was worrying about the condition I was in now, there is no way I could come clean about working myself any harder. 

I forced myself to smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. All this walking must have made me a bit lightheaded, sorry for troubling you all," giving the book back to Lamp, my attention turned to Leine, "Onee-chan, how about three, maybe four more rounds of sparring?" I said, trying my best to downplay how sore I actually was from the last round.

"You can't neglect your exercises, dear. We already went at it once today, isn't that enough?" she said, twirling her hair. 

"J-just a few more times! I need to see if I can figure a few things out."

Leine sighed then put her hands up. "No matter how many times we fight I'm not going to go any easier on you, I hope you understand that."

"Understood! Let's get going already."

"Give it your all!" Lamp said.

"Whoa, you guys are gonna just start like that? Wicked!" Polka said, now sitting cross-legged.

"H-huh?!" Clea blurted out. "We just got back, you should rest before you start fighting again. Right, Hanako-chan? ...Hanako-chan?"

Hanako's eyes narrowed as she stared at me. The smile that had always been plastered onto her face seemed to have vanished, a mouth that was set into a hard line replacing it. I hated making her worry like this, I really did but I just couldn't explain it to her. This was my fault so it had to me who fixed it. 

"Chris.."


	5. The Past And Moving Towards a New Future

Ever since they were little, he's been this way. 

Hanako never thought of her bad luck as a bad thing. Just like how some people are born with freckles or moles, Hanako thought that these things were just a small part of what made someone human. Unfortunately, not everyone thought the same way she did.

"That's not yours, give back Hanako-san's bunny!" Chris yelled, clenching his fists as he stared down the two bullies. He was shaking and on the verge of tears as they towered over him. 

"Eh, this kid again? What are you, her bodyguard or something? Scram," one of them said, holding the doll just out of his reach, "she'll just end up breaking the stupid thing so I'm really just doing her a favor."

"Y-you better give it back or..or—"

The other picked Chris up by the hood of his jacket and pulled him closer, "or what? Give it up already, will you?"

Of course, situations like these often ended in violence. It was two on one. He didn't have a chance at winning, especially against the older boys. Hanako stood a few steps behind Chris and she wanted to help. She wasn't scared, if Chris and her were together no one could stop them not even two mean bullies! Though, he never let her get involved when it came to these types of things.

They beat on him and beat on him, kicked and punched the boy but every time they turned their backs on him, Chris would grab on to one of their ankles, slowly craning his head upwards to look at them.

"G..ive..i..t back!" He snarled, baring his teeth.

"Quit lookin' at me like that you runt!" the second one said. Clearly fed up that he wouldn't stay down, he punted Chris in the face before throwing the doll at him. They both left as they cackled to themselves while Chris curled himself around the bunny. 

Hanako ran up to him and began to shake his body, "Chris, Chris!"

"You stayed back, thank goodness," he said, sitting up and wiping his nose. That last kick must have caused it to bleed. His eyes were watering but he bit his lip so that he wouldn't cry in front of her. 

"You're hurt, let's get a teacher and...um."

He sniffled. "I'm fine, I can walk it off."

"But..but you have a bloody nose!"

"A little blood doesn't hurt anybody...b-besides, those guys were being jerks to you," he looked down in disappointment, "sorry I couldn't win for you it must suck having a weakling for a friend, huh?"

"You're not weak at all! You were all like 'pew!' and 'bang!' but they were older so it just didn't work, that's all!" she said, chopping and kicking the air, "you also coulda called me in, I would have taught them a less or two. Together, me and you are like superheroes!"

Chris paused before shaking his head, "no way I could do that. It was my fault for not paying attention to you when we were on the playground so I had to make things right again."

Hanako was shocked, it wasn't his fault at all. If she had been watching where she had left her things this whole situation wouldn't have happened.

"Here you go, I'm sure you've been missing him a whole lot!" Chris said as he handed over the doll over to Hanako, closing his eyes and giving her a toothy smile. 

She hugged it but couldn't help staring at him. Why wasn't she allowed help him with the bullies? It was her bunny. Hanako knew he could be a bit protective but if he was getting hurt, why not let her help out? She always thought that they worked well as a team. Putting the world on his shoulders, never letting anyone else into his little bubble, this was the Chris that Hanako had always known. But, there was one thing that he always failed to notice, whenever he would get like this the one thing Hanako always wanted to say was...

-

-

"You're wide open!" Kirara swung her staff at Hanako, hooking her legs and yanking them out from under her. 

"Kirara wins! Better luck next time Hanako-sama." Lamp said.

Things began to become a bit crowded so Leine decided to take Chris on another run around town, leaving the rest of the girls to help out Hanako at the training grounds.

Kirara stabbed her staff into the ground near Hanako's head, "come on Hanakoizumi-san, you can't be spacing out like this."

"Ease up on her, will ya?" Polka said, sneaking up behind her and covering Kirara's eyes, "I'm sure she's trying her best."

"Polka, quit it! Geeez! We have two days before we set up some animals as bait and we can't afford to waste any more time."

Kirara continued to shake Polka off of her, knocking over some training dummies in their struggle. With a sigh, Clea facepalmed. "Don't you have a job, Polka? Why are you still here?"

"I'm still on break the last time I checked."

"You've been on break for a couple weeks now!"

Polka covered her ears, "huh what's that? I can't really hear you from all the way down there," 

"You'll have to go back eventually and when you do you'll just have more work to d—"

"You saying something, Clea?"

"Stop ignoring me!"

"Be nice Polka-chan," said Hanako with a giggle. She sat up and threw her arms back, causing her shield to come undone, shoot up into the air and come crashing back down onto her head. "Owie!"

"Hanako-sama are you ok? Do you need first aid or maybe mouth to mouth?! I'll donate my blood if you need me to!" Lamp said, quickly rushing to her aid. But, before she could get far she's stopped by Kirara whacking her with her staff.

"Down girl!" she said, furrowing her brow. Kirara extended her hand to Hanako, "are you alright? You're always hurting yourself somehow, it's honestly surprising."

"I'm A-ok, thanks guys," Hanako squeezed her hand and shot up to her feet, "just a bit worried, that's all."

"What for, Hanacchi? You don't seem like the worrying type." Polka said.

"Well..um...it's Chris. I haven't been able to spend much time with him lately so I'm not sure what he's like now but the last time I saw him, he could barely keep up with Leine-chan. The way he was moving, the glaze over his eyes, it was scary. He's trying really, really hard to get his magic working and it's taking a toll on him."

"I saw Chris-kun before he went out and he didn't look like he was in the best shape. Even after I warned him about pushing himself too hard.." Clea said, "he still can't make any fire either, it's a bit weird don't you think? With the way Leine's been training him you would think he would have complete mastery over his powers by now."

Kirara turned her back to the four girls and crossed her arms. "The way people awaken the ability to use magic has always been a mystery. Some people say our powers are genetically coded into us and lay dormant until we reach a certain age and others say that it will come when you're backed into a corner. Then...there's Hanakoizumi-san who just..did it.." 

Readjusting the collar of her cloak, she continued, "since creamates are a direct extension of what's been written in the scriptures they learn magic at a much faster pace but like all things there are exceptions. My theory is that something is forcing him to suppress himself."

"Something's holding him back?" Hanako said, tilting her head.

"I'm only speaking from experience. I personally thought I was one of the unlucky few who were born without the ability to use Crea until I met Lamp a few years ago."

"What if he just can't use Cruh-ee?"

"Crea. And he definitely can, have you been paying attention to their spars? Leine-san gets burn marks every time they fight, whether or not it's intentional I have no clue."

"I don't really understand any of this stuff myself but if things continue as they are, he'll just die won't he?" Polka asked, scratching her head.

"...I can't say yes or no. But nothing good will come from him stupidly running into battle without me healing him first."

"Polka! Don't say things like that in front of her," Clea cried before lowering her head.

Hanako fell silent. She was wrong, she had to be. Chris wasn't allowed to die, he had told her that when they were kids and he hit his head on some rocks in the forest near her house. He'd never go back on his word like that and Hanako was one hundred percent sure of it.

Lamp put a hand on Hanako's shoulder, catching her by surprise. "If that's true then what you have to do is obvious isn't it Hanako-sama?" she said as everyone gave their attention to her. 

Wrapping her arms around her neck and pulling Hanako into a hug, Lamp's face reddened, "as much as it pains me to say this, none of us can help you with this. If me or Kirara try to talk to him he'll just feign ignorance and continue to work himself half to death. There isn't anyone in the world who he cares about more than you so that's why you're the only one who can snap him out of this."

"Lamp-chan..." Hanako's eyes gleamed as she puts a hand over her chest and leaned back into her. "you're right if I talk to him I'm sure he'll understand, he has to. But we're going to need to be alone—"

Before she could finish, Clea reached into her dress and pulled out five coins—putting them between her fingers. Lamp does the same and stuck a hand in front of Hanako's face.

"Hwuh?"

"There's an inn near here," Lamp said.

"Yeah, we'll pay for you!" Clea added.

Kirara couldn't help but smile as she kept her back turned. "Since everyone is so quick to spend what little gold they have left I guess I'll help out as well. Polka, time to get back to work. You have two days to make some gauntlets, err..well I guess when I send you the specifics you'll have around thirty-five or so hours left."

"Nothing the future world's greatest blacksmith can't handle, you can count on me."

"I'll handle getting him some proper attire so that it doesn't look like a hobo is bum-rushing our monster," she paused, whipped around and said, "Oh and Hanakoizumi-san? You don't need to worry about Chris and his magic for much longer, I've got that under control. Just focus on getting him to me, alright?"

"I hear you loud and clear! Thanks a million, girls!" Hanako said as she jumped up and down. 

-

-

"O-one bed?! Who thought this was a good idea?"

Hanako did. Not only did it cost alot less gold to share a bed instead of having separate ones, but she also got to be in the same bed as Chris for the first time since they both arrived at Etoilia. 

There wasn't much in the room. A king-sized bed, lamp on a desk that was turned on, a fireplace and one painting that hung above it. Hanako had never been to a place like this before so she wasn't sure if this was a high-quality inn or not. She still loved the look of it, though.

"Woops, looks like I must have checked off the wrong thingy on the paper the lady gave me," she said as she lightly tapped her head, stuck out her tongue and let out a small "teehee".

"Ah. I'll go fix that for us then."

"Huh? Waait!" She clung to his waist to stop him from going out the door, "you're a meanie, you know that?"

Chris winced. "Tch..yeah I know. I'm just joking though, it's only ok since it's you."

He slowly made his way to the bed, dragging his feet on the wooden floor below him and sat down. Looking Hanako in the eyes for just a second before jerking his head to the right, Chris blushed. 

"No..nobody is coming here anytime soon right?" 

"Nope, not a soul! Most people are asleep by now. Today's training must have taken you a while."

"Well, I thought Lamp was joking when she told me that I won a contest that I didn't enter." He shook his head before getting back to his main point, "A-anyways! I...wann.." Chris mumbled.

"What?"

"I said I want to cud..."

"You wanna..?"

"I WANNA CUDDLE! LET'S CUDDLE!" 

"..."

Hanako ran full speed ahead, tackled him onto the bed and felt his forehead. "Are you alright? You don't have a fever, do you?! I don't know how to cure fevers from different worlds!!" 

He's never this honest with himself, especially when it comes to the hugs or kisses she always loved to give him. Could it be possible that he was finally growing past his tsundere phase?!

"I'm fine, I'm not sick you dumb dork!"

Or not. With no way to get him back for the height jokes, he would always have the upper hand so in a way she was somewhat glad. 

"Is today a special day?"

"I'm no good at this thing in public..so since it's just me and you here, why not? You don't wanna?"

"Of course I do. You never need to ask if you wanna hug me, just do it! Like me!"

"Not everyone is as outgoing as you."

"Haha, I guess not."

They both sat up as Hanako straddled his lap and put her arms around him. While the pieces of armor sat in the corner near the door, leaving Hanako with her white overdress and short, red skirt, Chris wore some holey jeans and what was left of his once white t-shirt. 

She slowly moved down his back as dirt, sand and dried blood rubbed against her hands. How many times had Leine knocked him down only for him to get up and ask for a rematch? He really hasn't changed at all from back then.

Chris rested his head against hers. They both gazed at each other as he softly trailed his hand down her face. His cheeks were still red from earlier so a bit of heat was coming off of him. It seemed that unlike everywhere else, his head took the least amount of damage aside from a few scratches.

She planted a few kisses on his neck before squeezing him tightly causing Chris to wince again.

"So..I've been thinking.."

"That's a surprise."

"Meanie," she pushed him down then rested her head on his chest, "aren't you going to ask what I'm thinking about?"

"Blargh. I've been defeated." He said in a dead tone of voice.

She giggled. "I'm being serious, come on ask me."

"Fine." He said, running his hands through her hair. "What is it that you're thinking about, Hanako-san?"

"The future."

"That's vague..if you're still mad about when I said I would only propose to you using a candy ring, that was a joke and I'm sorry."

"No not that! Well..yeah I'll be really really angry if you do that but that's not what I'm talking about. I mean our future in Etoilia. When Kirara-chan told me it was impossible for her to bring everyone from school over here I was a bit bummed at first but it also got me thinking. I don't really see it but Kodaira-sensei said that everyone in the happiness class has misfortunes, right?"

He began to count on his fingers. "Hibari and her sign. Botan and her brittle bones. Ren and her..uh female problem? And finally, Hibiki and her sense of direction or rather lack thereof."

"And back when we were in 4th grade and we were talking about what we wanna be when we grow up, do you remember what you said in front of the class?"

"What does that have to do with anything?! I told you to never bring that up!"

"You said, 'when I grow up, I'll become someone who will make everyone in the world smile,' " she said, trying her best to imitate the boy's voice. "It was super adorable. I was so touched that I stood up and said the same thing. I'm still not too sure why everyone laughed at us though."

"Don't say that so loud, god! It's embarrassing.."

"I'm getting to my point, trust me. If me and you got picked on because of our misfortunes that means everyone else must have had it pretty rough too, I think. But, why? What makes people who are 'unfortunate' any worse than people who aren't? I just don't get it," her tone of voice had a genuine curiosity with not a hint of anger in it.

As Chris stared at the ceiling, she continued. "People are people and everyone is different. It would be really really hard to pull off if we were at home but in Etoilia, we might have a chance!"

"At what exactly?"

"Change," she said, barely able to contain her excitement. "Let's take this world by storm. We'll become adventurers, do lots of super fun quests and make sure no one has to be picked on ever again! When you and me are done, Etoilia will be safe enough so that Hibari-chan and the others won't have to struggle at all. It'll really be a world where everyone can smile and live together peacefully, just like you always wanted."

He didn't answer. All he could do was cover his blushing face with his hand.

"Travel the world with me, won't you Chris?"

"Honestly, you're always saying the most embarrassing things," he muttered. "You shouldn't even have to ask a question like that. Wherever you go, I'll be right there by your side. That's the way things have always been."

"Great! That makes us a party then."

"I guess so."

Hanako took a deep breath before slowly looking up at him. "Maybe. Just maybe. The first thing we can do as a party is beat that giant guy together."

"I..." his arms tightened around her as he struggled to string a sentence together, "I can't— no, I won't let you do that. This whole thing is my fault. My burden."

"B-but."

Chris' chest quickly rose up and down as he clenched his teeth together. Closing his eyes, he shakily said, "it's because I'm so weak..."

He's doing it again. Why was he blaming himself? Hanako didn't understand, it was impossible for him to have saved her. If she hadn't tried to play hero and save those animals none of this would have happened in the first place. 

"That I almost let you get killed... I wasn't there for you before so I have to fight this thing on my own. At least, I thought that but even if I fight Leine from dusk to dawn, even if I try to push this body way beyond what it's actually worth, this stupid feeling won't go away. It's all so confusing!"

She had to say it. If she didn't there wouldn't be another chance. Time and time again, she would let the opportunity slip through her hands to let him hear the thing that he needed to hear the most. 

"Have you seen what Lamp wrote down? That thing is ten times my size I can't come up with a strategy for that. I'm scared out of my mind but even then, I have to make things right again. The only one allowed to fight is—"

Whenever he would put these unrealistic expectations himself like this. Whenever he would selfishly blame himself over things he couldn't control. There was one thing that Chris always failed to notice. What Hanako always wanted to say to him was:

"YOU'RE NOT ALONE!" she cried into his chest as tears rolled down her face, "I'm here too. Seeing you try to force everything on yourself hurts so much I can't bear it. I know you have a grudge, if something hurt you I would have one too. But if you're so scared that you're straining yourself this much, just let me carry some of that weight and help you!"

Both of their shuddering gasps could be heard as he covered his eyes with his arm. With his free hand, he stroked Hanako's head and continued to hold her close. She felt warm. It was like there wasn't a place in the world that could be safer than where she currently was.

"I don't wanna lose you, Anne," he sobbed.

"You won't. Just like you, I'm not allowed to die, remember?" she said, her voice muffled. "If it's you and me there's nothing that can stop us. I truly believe that."

"I'm not alone, huh?" he wiped the tears from his eyes as a soft chuckle escaped his lips, "it'll be a stretch but I think I'll—er, we'll be able to pull it off."

"Ne, Chris."

"Yeah?"

"Let's become great adventurers, ok?"

"Yeah."

That night for the first time since they got to Etoilia, Hanako and Chris peacefully cuddled and slept the night away, knowing that they were completely safe in the presence of the other.


	6. Ultimatum

The following day at the training ground.

"I'm glad you finally came back to your senses," Kirara said as she finished healing me. "I have to ask though, what took you two so long to get here? It's already noon, Lamp and I have been waiting here all day."

"A-ah, well I guess we just kinda lost track of time. It's been so long since we've slept in an actual bed after all."

Hanako clung to my arm and giggled to herself. The truth was that she had her legs wrapped around me and I couldn't move until she woke up; it wasn't like I really found that to be a problem though. Once this girl was asleep, it would take a hurricane to wake her up again so I decided to get a few more hours of sleep myself.

Believe it or not, Hanako's skin was extremely soft, much softer than any of the blankets the lady at the inn gave us. It was the weirdest thing, I couldn't help but doze off as she held me close to her. 

Anyways, I'm getting off track. Telling Kirara and Lamp about what really happened would be embarrassing.

"Where did everyone go?" Hanako asked Kirara. It was oddly roomy with only the four of us there.

"Clea went home. It wasn't like she was training or anything so she had no reason to stay. Leine...I haven't seen Leine-san all day but now that I think about it she must have gone to visit Kanna-san or something."

"Wow, you sure know alot of people here huh, Kirara-chan. Who's Kanna?"

"That's only natural since this is where I grew up. Kanna-san is Leine-san's childhood friend who she's basically forced to visit every once in a while. She's the architect of the village and..a complete slob, if she didn't have Leine to look after her I don't think she would get much done."

"Hey, that kinda sounds like you, Chris."

"I am not a slob! My room was always cleaner than your plush infested one," I said.

"Whenever I would come over there would be figures and books all over the place."

"Changing the subject! Kirara, what about Polka? I was expecting her to stay for a couple more weeks."

"She went back to work," she said in a reluctant tone. "Well, I guess she's asleep now. Say what you want about her work ethic but when she actually gets an order, it's scary how fast she can pump equipment out."

"With how long she's been crashing here I guess I shouldn't be surprised with the amount of work piling up on her."

Smirking at Kirara, Lamp pulled a white bag out from behind her and tossed it to me. "Come on, how long are you going to keep him in the dark?"

"I was getting to that," Kirara said, glaring back at her. She pointed to the bag then to the stairs leading to the second floor, "you, change."

"Don't be such a stick in the mud. Chris-sama, since your clothes are all torn up, we all decided to pool our gold together and buy you some new stuff! Kirara even got Polka to make a special pair of gloves just for you."

"Really? I'll have to pay you guys back eventually, thanks alot." I tried to open the bag but I'm interrupted by Lamp squeezing it shut.

"No peeking~"

"That's a concerning thing for you out of all people to say."

"Lamp-chan just wants it to be a surprise, Chris! I have no idea what they bought either, don't you think it's exciting?" said Hanako.

She wasn't wrong, getting some fantasy gear certainly was something I was looking forward to doing but the fact that Lamp had a say in what was bought made things one hundred times scarier. The last thing I would want to wear is a royal garb that would make me look stuck up while I fought. Or worse, something that showed off way too much skin so that she could look at me with those perverted eyes of hers.

"Alright now, Chris-sama. I just need you to come with me, I'll help you properly get changed. I've never seen the body of a creamate before so this can be a learning experience for both of us, come on let's get going!"

I jerked the bag out of her hands and back away from her. "If anyone whose name isn't Hanako-san so much as steps a foot in that stairwell, I'll personally file a restraining order against them."

"What's a restraining order?" Lamp said with a blank look.

-

Aside from the locked doorknob shaking a few times and some shouts from outside, the change went pretty well. 

"Wahhh, that's adorable Chris! You're really starting to look like a mage!" Hanako exclaimed.

"Y-you think so?"

The white robes I was given went down to my waist and had a high collar that somewhat irritated my neck, the upside to this is that it also came with a hood. My sleeves were a little baggy, not enough to get in the way of my fast-paced fighting style but just enough to be noticeable. They had red accents towards the ends. Other than that all that was left in the bag were black pants, brown boots with white fur and the gauntlets.

I clenched my fists. At first glance, you might assume that Polka just made these things out of iron or something but the palm had an oddly delicate, silky feeling to it. 

Lamp blissfully swayed side to side as she spoke. "What do you think, Chris-sama? If it's not to your liking I can go pick something else out."

"No, no, you did great, it's nice and easy to move around in. These gloves are much lighter than I was expecting them to be."

"But wait there's more!" she flipped my hand and right on the back of my palm was a large four-leaf clover that had its stem facing downwards like the one Hanako's old Tennomifune uniform.

My eyes widened. "Lamp..."

"I saw that Kirara's design was lacking a little something so I added this to her order to Polka." 

Clang! Clang!

"Hanako-san, Hanako-san! We match now!" I said, banging my iron-clad fists together. 

Hanako took off her shoulder piece and put it beside my gauntlets. A blush crept up her face as her eyes twinkled in excitement. "Whoa, we match, we match!"

"You really didn't have to do this at all, Lamp. I gotta buy you something as thanks."

"Mhm, thanks a billion, Lamp-chan."

"B-both Hanako-sama and Chris-sama are praising me~," Lamp said, dropping to her knees and putting a hand to her forehead, "just that is enough for me, I don't need you to get me anything at all. I'm going to mark this day as—" she put her hands over her mouth, "—I mean make a mental note and not share this with anyone."

Clever girl. Weird but clever. I'll be sure to at least buy her a nice bracelet or something the moment I'm not broke. Whenever that is.

"Enough, all of you," Kirara said, breaking her silence for the first time. "You shouldn't be celebrating just yet. Especially you, Chris."

Everything went quiet as all eyes went to her. Her back was turned to us so I couldn't get a good look at the expression on her face but if it was anything like the tone of her voice, she wasn't in the most cheerful of moods.

"I promised to keep an eye on you but I can't say that I like what I see."

"What are you trying to say?" Lamp said.

"The truth. It's weird enough that you're the first boy that I've ever summoned but now, as the time before your big fight approaches you're still as hopeless as you were when you started a couple of weeks ago." Looking up at the blue sky above her, she continued, "A mage who can't use magic is completely and utterly useless."

"S-stop. He's trying his best, Kirara."

"His 'best' isn't good enough. His 'best' is going to get him killed," she whipped around and went to strike me, stopping as soon as her staff was directly underneath my chin. "I'm giving two options. Tomorrow you either win and show me what you're worth or lose, and I'll send you back to where you came from. That is if you don't die in the process."

I smiled. "That seems like a win-win situation if I ever saw one."

"Should you lose Hanakoizumi-san won't be accompanying you on your way home. Unlike you, she's proven to me that she can handle herself in combat."

"Care to listen to what I want now?" I said, clamping my hand down onto her staff and gritting my teeth. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"You're in no position to negotiate here."

With my free hand, I held up two fingers. "Two conditions to match with your two options."

"..."

"One. Both me and Hanako-san will fight together. And two. Once I win, you have to do one favor for me, that way we're both putting something on the line here."

"That's it?" she asked with a scoff, "What do you want me to do?"

"Well, that is a secret. I'll let you know soon enough, Kirara. Now, do you accept?"

Before the tension between us got any worse she pulled away and scowled at me.

"It looks like I don't have a choice anyway. You have your bet, now prove yourself, Chris." Kirara stormed out of the training grounds and back into the village.

For a while, there was silence. Lamp stayed on her knees, picking at the ground beneath her. I put my face in my hands, maybe I should have de-escalated the situation instead of making things worse. 

"This..is going to be pretty fun." Hanako giggled, fiddling with the sheath of her sword.

"Fun?" Lamp replied. "I really don't wanna say goodbye to either of you. You're not scared at all Hanako-sama? I've never seen Kirara act that way before."

"Scared, what for? There's no way that we're going to lose."

Lamp looked up and saw exactly what I did. A girl brimming with unconditional confidence and enthusiasm who couldn't sit still at the thought of fighting alongside me. In her eyes, Kirara had already lost the moment she accepted my bet. Honestly, this dumb dork never changes does she?

"She's right, Lamp. You don't need to worry at all, just leave it all to us," I said. Hanako hugged my waist and gazed up at me. "I'm not going to be separated from this dummy. There's still a whole world for us to explore after all."

"Chris-sama...Hanako-sama..." Lamp wiped her face before showing us her broad smile. "Do your best—no. Win, you two!"


	7. And Thus on That Fateful Day, The Boy Saw Light

And so the time finally arrived. Kirara had convinced some nearby farmers to use some sheep and horses as bait to lure out our monster. Just before we were about to head out, Leine was able to successfully evacuate the civilians from the village so that there wouldn't be any unnecessary casualties. 

As I stood still in this grassy field that seemingly went on forever, I shaded my eyes against the sun as sweat dripped off my face. On this day, it was extremely hot. At least it was for me. The five people who were with me weren't affected by the heat at all.

Lamp, Kirara, Leine, and Senpai sat a few meters behind me, acting as the audience for this David and Goliath-esqe battle. The rules were simple. At my request, there would be no outside interference unless we are unable to continue. If things got to that point Leine would jump in and save us but unfortunately, this would also result in an automatic loss.

I took a deep breath to calm myself but to no avail. There it was, movement sluggish and rigid, staring down at the livestock that was given to it. My hands began to tremble again. Now was no time to be scared, if I don't act now I won't get another chance.

[Shroud].

Still just my right palm. Why won't it work, damn it! I can't afford to keep letting everyone down, what happened to that confidence from yesterday? 

[Shroud]. [Shroud]. [Shroud]. [Shro—

"Chris," Hanako said, grabbing my left hand and snapping me out of my thoughts. The trembling stopped. I wasn't alone in this battle and that was enough to help soothe my anxiousness even if it was just a little bit.

"Thanks."

She unsheathed her sword in one rapid movement. "It may look a little slow now but don't let that trick you."

"Got it."

"Oh, oh, one more thing. Let's have tons of fun with this!"

I sighed. "You're as dumb as ever, you dork. Let's get this over with already."

The wind blowing through our hair, I pulled Hanako forward as we ran towards the beast. We split up, me to the right, Hanako to the left. Driving my palm into the giant, a deafening, high-pitched screech echoed throughout the meadow. 

Sparks flew off Hanako's sword as she swung it against the back of its knee. It buckled. The giant fell forward but not before swinging its club into me. I guarded, crossing my arms into an X shape as I'm pushed back several feet. The sound of stone hitting metal rang in my ears.

Stomping its foot and destroying the ground beneath it, the giant was able to catch itself. Due to being in the process of falling, it wasn't able to put as much power into the swing. Still, it wasn't a love tap by any means. I coughed up blood, lowering my guard. 

It roared again, this time sending chills down my spine. The smell of smoke filled the air as the giant scrambled towards me, horizontally swinging its club. 

"Jab to the stomach," I growled, instinctively backing away.

The giant raised its weapon overhead and brought back down like a guillotine, burying it into the ground. Jumping to the side, I managed to dodge just in time. While the giant was bent over trying to pull its club out, I quickly slapped my palm on it again.

Hanako jumped and slashed at its right arm. The giant tensed up, jerking its arm upwards and tossing Hanako back. Stabbing at the earth, she found herself not too far away from the action. 

The shape of its body. Human-like. Its reaction to pain. Human-like. Its speed. Human-like. Hanako wasn't lying when she said it would get faster once we started but somehow it didn't seem too bad. Sweat dripped off the bridge of my nose, evaporating before it touched the grass. It was getting hotter. Why was it getting so hot?

No, it wasn't time to complain. I had to think.

Right now with no way to get off any real attacks, Hanako and I were on the defensive. Think. Find an opening, a weakness of any kind and end the battle immediately. Think, Chris, think.

-

"Whoa! What's with that speed," Clea said as she leaned forward. "Chris-kun is literally steaming!"

"Hanako-sama can barely keep up," Lamp added. 

Leine placed a hand to her cheek and sighed. The scene taking place in front of her was enough to make her shed a tear. "What do you think, Kirara?"

No response. Kirara looked on in a combination of awe and dread, it was as if she was noting every difference in movement both Hanakoizumi-chan and Chris made. Leine knew this expression very well. 

"Come on now dear, you look so tense. A learning experience like this only comes once in a lifetime, you should take the time to enjoy it." 

Kirara gripped her staff which sat horizontally on her knees. "Did you manage to teach them anything new in the last day? This is quite the leap."

"Nope. Your big sister tried to offer some last-minute training yesterday after visiting Kanna but they declined. You know Kirara, magic is still—"

"Something that we don't completely understand yet, I get that. Some people are blessed with powers beyond one's wildest dreams while others are stuck with nothing." Kirara glared at her weapon. "How is someone whose gifted at swordsmanship supposed to guard against tornadoes being heaved at them? It's unfair, you and I both know that. Being hardheaded can only take you so far before you have to face the truth, creamate or not."

"Throughout all the spars Chris and I had you were the only one who's been there for all of them, silently studying. I could get him to the brink of passing out but no more, I'm no monster after all. I know I'm not the only one who knows that as much as it is physical, the ability to use Crea is a mental thing as well."

-

Hanako took some more slashes at the giant to no effect, its stopgap armor was preventing any damage from soaking through. 

The giant put all of its power into a mighty swing that put it off balance. I ducked at the last second, but the smoke was making harder to see. Its attacks were getting noticeably slower, possibly due to fatigue. 

Taking a few steps back the giant threw its club downwards, creating another hole in the ground. Images flashed in my mind. Hanako's body lying face down, void of life. The blood spreading throughout the floorboards. All of it was replaying in my head, over and over as the heat started to become unbearable. 

All of it my fault. I couldn't even keep a simple promise.

Hanako ran in front of me, using her shield to block the clumps of rocks and dirt coming my way. "Did you sprain something?" she asked.

"I can still move. Its limbs, attack its limbs."

"Aye, aye captain!"

As the giant was still trying to free its weapon I dashed behind it, Hanako trailing behind me. I placed my hands on the back of its knee, both beginning to sizzle on impact. Hanako slashed downwards.

Wait, wasn't it just my right hand that was able to burn?

The giant flinched and abandoned its weapon, opting to use its fists instead. The first attack came down, the ground tremoring underneath its tremendous force. Hanako tripped. Noticing this, the giant aimed its next attack at her. 

Without any hesitation, my body moved on its own. My shadow covered the fallen girl as she looked up in horror, a familiar feeling arose from the depths of my stomach. Anger. Sadness. Confusion. The very same combination I felt when I first opened my eyes in this new world.

"Your opponent IS ME!"

I refused to see the person who saved me in a condition like that ever again even if it meant betting my very life on it.

Gritting my teeth, I caught the giants fist and desperately pushed my weight against it.

"CHRIS," Hanako shrieked.

-

"I've seen enough," Kirara said. "Step in and bail them out."

Leine rested her chin on her fingers. "How odd. The stone giant is a really simple-minded creature, it should be only focusing on Chris due to him attacking first. For it to suddenly switch targets like that is really weird."

"Leine-san, now! They'll be crushed!"

"Where did you get that idea from?" she asked. Leine stood up and spread her arms at the boy struggling to keep the giant's fist from coming down as Clea and Lamp looked on, unable to take their eyes off the fight. "Listen up, girls here's a quick lesson from your big sister! In order for fire to be created three things must be present," Leine explained, holding three fingers up. "It seems that our 'powerless' mage is missing one of these necessary ingredients."

Taking a deep breath and blowing out, she grinned at Kirara who was still confused by all of this, "Oxygen, the air that we breathe. He's got plenty of that." Leine rolled up her sleeve to reveal the burn mark on her wrist. "Next up is heat, I'd be concerned if someone with an affinity to fire couldn't at least handle that. Judging by my arm I'd say he isn't really lacking in that either. Now, just what is it that's been making my dear pupil struggle, you ask?"

-

The ground breaking beneath my feet, I breathed heavily. Smoke covered my eyes as I pushed forward, its strength overpowering my pathetic attempt at playing the hero. 

"What are you doing? Get out from under there, you're scaring me!" Hanako said, inching backward on her hands.

I hated to make her worry like this, I really did. But, I just couldn't think of any other way. 

Both my hands sizzled and popped against stone as it burned. Despite being coarse and rough, the giant's hands were oddly human-like.

Human-like.

Why did that word stick out to me so much when it came to this thing? 

Back touching against the cracked soil, it became harder to breathe. The tears forming at the corner of my eyes quickly turned to a white mist that was released into the air.

Think, think. Search every corner of this brain of mine, remember everything and anything. Think, damn it!

The fist of the giant darkened my vision as I began to reminisce.

-

-

In front of me was light, absolutely obscuring whatever was beyond it.

At the time I couldn't have been any older than six years old. My back was against a wall as I sat with my arms and legs spread out. While others talked down to me with pity in their eyes or didn't even give me the light of day, the girl in front of me looked at me with genuine kindness. 

On that day, her twintails that were held together with two different hairpins blew to the side. The one in the shape of a clover caught my eye due to its bright green color. 

"Are you ok? You look a little lonely," she said, tilting her head.

Staring up at her, I didn't answer back. 

The girl crouched, squinting her large dark pink eyes at me. "Maybe you're taking a small nap? I get really tired too so it's nice to do that once in a while," she said, gasping shortly afterward. "Oh, but Mom says I can't nap at school since sensei won't be able to wake me up."

"..."

"Oh, oh I get it! You have a sore throat, right? I got just the stuff for that, Mom made me bring a bunch of medicine just in case I randomly got sick during class. That and a bunch of fresh clothing to change into for some reason. Here, let me go and bring it to you!" 

Shooting upwards she began to walk away. However, before she could get far I called out to her. "W-wait a second." She stopped and pivoted on her heel, facing me once again with wide eyes and an open mouth smile. 

"Whoa, you spoke! So you don't have a sore throat after all, thank goodness." 

"Why..."

"Hm?"

"Why are you talking to me like that?" I made circular gestures at my eyes. "Aren't you scared? I only drive others away with these things, hanging around a creep like me will only bring trouble."

"Creep?" She tilted her head and looked at me blankly. "People are people and everyone is different. Your eyes remind me of a kitty, they're really really cute!"

A blush crept up my face. "C-cute? You're making fun of me, aren't you? If you're just talking to me because you have to, you can leave! Nothing is worse than having someone look down on you!"

"No no, I really mean it." She drilled her finger into my cheek, forcing me to stare. It had a few pairs of bite marks that had scabbed over. "There was this one kitty with cute little spots that I was chasing and right before it bit me, I got a good look at its eyes. They were super pretty just like your ones!"

"..."

The girl jumped back and put her hands to her cheeks. "Oh my gosh, how could I forget?"

"About personal space?"

"No, names! I forgot to introduce myself," she said, clearing her throat then giving me a salute, "my name is Hanakoizumi Anne, nice to meet you!"

"Hanakoizu...Hanakoizoo...Hanakoiza...I can't say it, I'm sorry."

"That's A-ok just call me Anne instead."

With one finger, I scratched my face. "I don't think I can call you that either...I can pronounce the first part of your last name so..how about Hanako-san?"

Hanako's face flushed as she jumped up and down. "Cute! Cute! That's an adorable nickname! What's your name, I wanna think of one for you too."

"Most people just call me Chris. You don't have to think too hard about that sorta thing."

"Chris-kun?"

"Chris."

"Chris-chan?"

"Chris."

"Ku-kun?"

"Chris."

Hanako puffed out her cheeks before letting out a soft giggle. "Alright, Chris it is! That's a nice name too." The wind blew strongly as she stuck out her hand. "Seeing we're in the same class and all, wanna be friends with me?"

My heartbeat quickened. "Friends? You're making a mistake, you know."

"Nuh-uh, I don't think so at all! Come, I found this super cool alley near the school that I wanna show you! It's filled with kitties!" She wiggled her arm up and down, inviting me to come and take it. 

"B-but my—"

"Come on, hurry, hurry!"

Usually when someone makes a promise with another person, both parties are informed of what exactly is going to change. Before that day, I had only seen her a handful of times but I was still aware of how bad her luck was.

The truth was that I envied Hanako. While I let my misfortune take control of my life and made me believe that I didn't have the right to be loved by others, she lived life as if she didn't have one in the first place. Despite getting frequently getting wet and having to change into new clothing or showing up to school with a new scratch or bite from some random animal, she always remained optimistic and pushed forward with a smile on her face.

Envy became admiration and eventually, admiration turned into love. But, on that first day, that very first moment she reached out to me, I didn't understand her true intentions. Back then I thought she only wanted me around for one reason.

The second I grabbed Hanako's hand, warmth spread through my body as a single thought came to mind.

"I'm going to protect you."

I'm not stupid. I knew how empty that promise I made on that day was. With luck like hers, it was a miracle that I was able to keep it for so long. I knew how impossible it was to have saved her from getting injured like that. I knew all these things from the very beginning, I was just too stubborn to admit it.

In front of me was light, absolutely obscuring whatever was beyond it.

Ten years later in this brand new world, I'll strive to become someone who can share that light with others.

Flames, envelop my body and give me strength.

Keep this memory that forever burns in my heart as a reason to keep moving onwards. 

[Shroud].

-

-

BOOOOOM!

An explosion erupted from the palm of my right hand, blowing the giant backward and shattering the armor that covered its back. Tiny rocks whisked across the grassland. 

The tip of my shoe tapped against the ground as fire danced around me, acting as an uncontrollable aura. Unlike before, my body felt cool again. At this point in time, I was the source of fire. The grass that once was green and lively turned to ashes. 

I tried to use my right arm but it refused to move, it wasn't broken otherwise I would immediately feel pain. In this case, it was completely limp. 

"People are people." Tapping my head twice, I glanced upwards at the giant as a grin curved its way into my lips. "And everyone is different. Underneath all that armor you're nothing but flesh and bones, just like the rest of us."

-

"This really is unfair." Kirara closed her eyes and smirked. It seemed that she finally understood what Leine had been trying to hint at this whole time. "But, it's about time. Looks like my theory was correct."

"Yes, dears! The one thing that he had been lacking until now was FUEL," Leine announced, squeezing the three girls into a hug.

"Chris-sama, Hanako-sama! Finish it off!" Lamp cheered.

-

"You made a big deal about me getting hurt then you do something like this," Hanako said, rising to her feet and dusting herself off. "I'll be mad later. But for now, I can't help but be happy for you. Your magic is working!"

Keeping my back to her, I jerked my head to the left and pouted. "Hmph, it's not like it's over or anything yet, you dork. I'm going to need you to use your chains and give me your sword."

"Huh, have you seen how big it is?! I can't—"

"It's still stunned right now, this is our chance."

Hanako paused. Tossing her sword, it landed into the dirt next to me. From the side of my eye, she was smiling as she gave a thumbs up. "Go get em, Chris!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," I said, yanking the blade out and lunging forward on one knee.

An aura of light coming off of Hanako as she pressed her fingers together, she shouted: "[Creation: Holy Chains]."

Four golden chains came from the ground. Two of them fastened horizontally around the giant's arms and torso, preventing it from getting off any more attacks. The other two forced it completely to the ground by wrapping around its knees to the point where it physically couldn't stand. Even with it laying with its stomach to the ground, its height was no joke.

Cracking what was left of the earth beneath me, I launched myself upwards towards the giant with sword in hand. My limp arm flapped lifelessly as I made my descent onto the beasts back.

Its flesh was extremely soft with each step I made on it leaving a brand new footprint engraved on it. With spots and small bumps covering every inch of its actual skin, I could understand why it used armor in combat. 

After walking for a minute, I made it to the back of the stone giants neck. This was a creature that wouldn't fight unless provoked. However if left alive, the farmers in the area would suffer due to the lack of livestock. Still, despite that, I'd say that this giant made only a single mistake. 

"You messed up the moment you hurt someone precious to me. I'll make this quick," I said, and pushed the blade into its neck, slashing vertically. The giant let out one final screech that gradually decreased in volume until silence filled the air.

Hanako's chains disappeared as a peaceful serenity came over my body. It was over. And that meant, I won the right to stay in this world. I gazed over at Hanako who had joined the 4 other girls in celebration of our victory. My eyes felt heavy as the ground swayed beneath my feet.

I take a deep breath, filling my lungs with as much air as possible before shouting out to everyone below. "KIRARA, LAMP!" They looked up at me as I held Hanako's sword skyward. "JOIN MY PARTY! WITH THIS POWER EVEN SOMEONE AS WORTHLESS AS ME CAN PROTECT EVERYONE! I..promise."

Before I could get a proper answer, my body fell forward as my vision to dark.

-

Carrying his body like she would her own child, Leine brushed her hand over Chris' forehead. "It looks like he's gone and tuckered himself out."

"He's not hurt, right? He was fine just a second ago when he was about to jump." Hanako said, putting her sword back into her sheath.

"I don't think so. That explosion must have been enough to give him Crea exhaustion. He'll just be asleep for a little bit so try not to be so loud, alright?"

"I understand!—" Hanako covered her mouth before quickly lowering voice into a whisper. "—I mean, I can do that. I'm really good at being quiet."

Lamp tiptoed behind Hanako and gave her a hug from behind. "You did it, you two. Creamates really are amazing."

"Yeah, your senpai is proud of both of you, " Clea added, pumping her hands in the air. "How about ice cream as a victory snack, it'll be my treat. Oh, once he wakes up, of course."

"Ice cream?!" Hanako said, starry-eyed. "Don't mind if I do!"

"With some strawberry au lait on the side, right?" Lamp said, squeezing her tighter. "It is your favorite after all."

"Whoa, how'd you know that, Lamp-chan?"

"When it comes to creamates, I'm a pro!"

As the girls continued to discuss their plans, Leine walked up to Kirara who was sitting on a chunk of stone that was blown off the giant with her eyes closed. "You know, now's not the time to be studying," she said. 

Kirara opened one of her eyes only to close it again dismissively. "No such thing. Just like them, I still have a long way to go."

"Ah~ to think that I would see two full-blown awakenings in my lifetime, it's like a dream come true. Although this one was a bit shortlived."

"Don't kid yourself, Leine-san. My one hardly counts."

"It counts to me, dear." Leine looked down at Chris, then at Kirara again before jolting in surprise. "I almost forgot, how silly of me."

"Did you drop something back in town? We're heading back soon so I can help you look."

"Nothing like that, dear. I just wanted to ask you a question."

"You know the last time someone said that to me, they ended up dragging a whole village of people into a grudge match against a giant."

Leine put a hand to her mouth and giggled. "Fufufu, I can ensure you that won't happen with me."

"Then ask away."

"Did Chris ever end up 'proving himself' to you?"

Plopping backward and stretching her arms out, Kirara opened her eyes to look at the blue sky above. 

She never ended up answering Leine's question.


	8. Our Starting Line

Kirara leaned forward in her chair. A day and a half had passed since the battle with the giant and it was her turn to watch over Chris as he slept. Since they couldn't necessarily leave his unconscious body at the training grounds, Clea volunteered for him to rest at her house. 

Everyone had drawn straws to figure out the order they would be going in, that order being: Leine-san, Clea, Hanakoizumi-san, and finally Kirara herself.

Crea exhaustion was something that Kirara was familiar with aswell. Using [Call] even once rendered her completely exhausted for at least a week or two. As for healing, it wasn't much better. She had never needed to use that ability until Hanakoizumi-san's incident and it didn't help that she only recently awakened to her powers a few years back.

The mage class had all the luck. Kirara thought it was unfair how much it took to exhaust a mage compared to her. A simple healing spell should be nothing compared to an explosion that was able to break through solid stone. It made sense to her, but that didn't make it any less unfair.

Someone knocked on the window. Kirara grabbed her staff which was leaning on the end of Clea's bed and pointed it at the door.

"Leine-san said I didn't need to hold back against you, Lamp! We all know what happened last time we left you alone with a creamate," Kirara said. The poor, newly summoned girl had been traumatized and refused to tell anyone what actually happened. 

"Ah man, that sucks," Polka said, giving a cheeky smile as she opened the door and barged in. "Good thing I ain't Lamp."

"Polka-san?" Kirara hastily closed the door behind her. "What brings you here? I could fix something up for you, I'm sure Clea wouldn't mind."

She held up the two gauntlets that Chris was once wearing. "No need, I just came over here to bring these bad boys back. It seems that he was able to blow right through the heat retardant material in the palm that you requested so I doubled it. Other than that it was just a few dents here and there, nothing that I haven't dealt with before."

"How fast. Though, that's to be expected of you. Great job, Polka-san."

Polka rubbed the back of her head and laughed. "Oh stop, you're making me blush. It wasn't hard at all." 

"You sure you don't want anything to eat?"

"Like I said, no need." She gestured to the bed behind Kirara. Chris was slowly sitting up, rubbing one of his eyes as he let out a large yawn. "Tonight, we're going to have a feast. I can already taste Leine's cooking," Polka said as she began to drool.

"Kirara...Polka..?" Chris said, staring at the two girls in disbelief.

"Wow, even when you're just waking up you look angry. How do you manage that," Polka said with a scoff.

"It's my resting face, can't do much about it." 

"Anyways! Now that sleepyheads awake we can finally hold that party Lamp wanted." she tossed the gauntlets at Kirara who was barely able to catch them and headed for the door. "I gotta go change into something more formal. Oh oh, and tell the others about this, Hanacchi should be happy that you're finally awake." Polka left the same way she came, without notice and loudly. She slammed the door behind her. 

Kirara sat down and sighed, resting her head on her staff. "You only have that bra..."

Chris eyed his right arm. It was bandaged up to the forearm. He wiggled his fingers before making large circles with the entire arm, it seemed that he was surprised. "Ok, it can move," he said under his breath. "How'd this happen?"

"I should be asking you the same question. The skin on your palm to your wrist was completely charred."

"Really?!" He clenched his hand before wincing in pain. "Ow. Yup, hurt as much as I thought it would."

"You're lucky you didn't blow off any fingers. The human body can do alot of amazing things but regrowing limbs isn't one of them, the same can be said for my healing."

"But it still hurts though."

"It's not a redo button. Whenever I do heal someone I'm just speeding up their body's natural healing factor so if I were to take off your bandages, you'd look good as new. However, that doesn't mean that you didn't burn your skin in the first place, it's going to hurt for a little while so bare through it ok?" 

Chris continued to inspect his arm when something caught his eye. He covered the back of his palm and held it close as his cheeks turned a faint red. "Dumb..dork.."

"Did Leine-san and I mess up with the wrapping?" Kirara asked. Chris slowly removed his hand. On the bandages, Hanakoizumi-san had drawn a caricature of her face with some words of encouragement on the bottom. It said: 'Morning, Chris! We won, smile! Let's keep having tons of fun together!'

"Wow," Kirara said. "That's corny."

"No, I think it's cute. Embarrassing sure, but still cute. It's just the way she is."

"She isn't wrong either."

"About what?"

"You guys won," Kirara said, tossing the gauntlets onto the bed, "just like you said you would. Now that everything's said and done, you can finally tell me that favor you wanted me to do."

"Huh? I could have sworn I told you guys already." 

Kirara's grip on her staff tightened as she thought back to the day prior. "You're joking, right? That couldn't possibly be it." 

"Me and Hanako-san are going to become adventurers, the greatest this world has ever seen. A party isn't really a party with just two people so I thought that it would be fun to add you two as well."

"After I said all those things and threatened to separate you from your love, you still want to have me on your party? I understand Lamp, she can use magic but why me? Without Clea I'm nothing more than a healer, not even a good one at that."

"Even after all these years, I'm still no good at figuring this sorta thing out so I'm sorry if I guessed wrong." Chris dug his finger into the blanket as he squeezed his eyes shut. "Me and you. We're friends, right?"

Kirara, taken aback by his sudden statement, looked at Chris in bewilderment. 

"Friends have to be brutally honest with each other sometimes. What you said before may have hurt me a little bit but it's just like you said for me, 'you were just acting on your emotions', right Kirara? With this power I've been blessed with, I'll make sure to not let you down anymore. Onee-chan, Senpai, Lamp, Polka," Chris' voice became more passionate as his list went on, "Hibiki, Hibari, Botan, Ren, Hanako-san and even you, I'll protect everyone!"

He extended his closed fist out to her and smiled. "Join my party, Kirara."

"Somebody has to keep Lamp in check," Kirara said. They bumped knuckles, making Chris wince again. "I'll join you on your travels for now."

Kirara returned a soft smile back at the boy. Now that she was on board, all that was left was to ask Lamp. 

-

-

Yes. After lots of screaming and fainting, Lamp's answer was yes. 

Night fell over the village as two large banquet tables full of food and drinks sat in the middle of the training grounds. Everyone who helped over the past two weeks came together to hold a celebration for their recent victory. 

Most things were made by Leine-san but some people brought things of there own, like Clea and her multiple boxes of ice cream for example. All of them, excluding Leine, were minors so that meant we couldn't drink any alcohol. This didn't stop her from bringing some for herself, of course. 

Hanakoizumi-san danced on one of the tables as Chris and Lamp clapped along. They were singing in a way that Kirara didn't quite understand, some bits were clearly English but then there would be parts where they would slip into a language that she never heard before. 

As Kirara stood with her leg against the wall watching all of this unfold, Clea ran up to her and tugged on her cloak. "Kirara-chan! Chris-kun and Hanako-chan are teaching us some songs from their old world, wanna join us?"

"I'm not much of a singer so I'm fine staying here." She ruffled Clea's hair. "Go enjoy yourself, ok?"

The smell of paint overwhelmed all of Kirara's senses as Polka wobbled her way to the two girls. She was balancing multiple plates filled to the brim with meat, vegetables, and gravy. One plate was even on her head. "Hey, you two," Polka said, "you better grab some grub before it's all gone. Leine hasn't cooked for me in months so today, I'm going all out!"

"If you keep eating like that you'll get fat," Clea said, poking Polka's tanned belly. Polka wobbled backward, almost dropping everything.

"You underestimate my metabolism! A growing girl like me has to keep eating and eating so that she can be big and strong—Woah!" She flexed a bit too hard, causing a plate to fall. Luckily, she was able to catch it with one of her feet. Polka continued as if nothing happened. "There's no way these muscles are leaving me any time soon!"

"I couldn't even dream of eating half of that. Where do you even store all of it?"

Still hopping around on one leg, Polka's eyes drooped. "Maybe you're so short because you don't eat enough."

"Take it back! I've tried that already and it didn't work. If anything it just made me sick... Besides, my height is fine for my age!"

"You keep telling yourself that."

"It's true!"

Kirara sniffed before squinting at Polka. Instead of the worn-out and darkened red it usually was, her bra had one side that was white and one that was jet black. 

"You checking out my body too, Kirara? I can lend you some of my food if you want to get as big as me." Polka leaned forward and stuck out her tongue. "Just kidding, it's all for me!"

"I'm doing nothing of the sort," Kirara replied. "I didn't take you for the type who would dress up."

"And you'd be right. Going out and buying something new is such a hassle. So many people, long lines, not to mention that they keep trying to push all these dresses on me when they're not my style. I just did what any sane person would do to get ready."

"...You painted your bra, didn't you?"

"You did, didn't you?" Clea added.

Polka tilted her head, not too much though. Otherwise, she might have dropped something. "Are you guys mind readers? How could you tell?"

"I have my ways," Kirara said. The aroma of paint overtook the smell of everything else she was carrying.

CRASH!

"I said to be careful, dummy!" Chris yelled.

Hanakoizumi-san popped up from underneath one of the tables with rice and mashed potatoes stuck in her hair. "I was, I was! But then my foot got stuck," she said.

"It's fine, Chris-sama," Lamp said, quickly swiping a spoon and fork from beside her. "I'll clean her up right away! You just sit tight." 

"What? NO! Keep sharp objects away from her! Lamp? LAMP?!" Chris tried to pin Lamp down but they just ended up creating more mess in the process. It wasn't long before all three of them were covered in food and drinks.

"You're wasting Leine's precious cooking? Unacceptable!" Polka said, hopping away to go stuff her face. "I'll eat it all before I let you waste any more!"

Clea let out a nervous chuckle. "They're as lively as ever, huh?"

"Yeah. Though, I can't say that I hate how much louder things have gotten."

"Clea-chan," Hanakoizumi-san whined, shaking the juice off of her like a dog. "Help us clean up, please."

"Yeah, help us out, Senpai!" Chris said.

Clea looked up at Kirara, giving her a look that said: "is it ok?"

"Go have fun, Clea. I'm sure this is nothing for a reliable senpai like you, right?" Kirara asked.

"Of course!" Clea puffed out her chest and marched over to that disaster of a table. Kirara couldn't help but giggle at how hard she tried to act mature.

Leine, who was sitting down with a wine glass in her hand, signaled for Kirara to come sit with her. 

"Something up," Kirara said, plopping down on the bench. "You're not drunk, are you?"

"Now? No, just a bit tipsy. I can't make any promises for the end of the night." She swished the wine around in her glass before taking a sip. "You know, I had to tell Hanakoizumi-chan that this was a special beverage that only big sisters could drink. She got all pouty when she realized she was an only child."

Kirara snorted. "That's concerning in its own way. I feel like you would be enjoying yourself more if Kanna-san was here, it's always nice to have a drinking partner."

"Don't say it like that, dear. Kanna still had some work to do so she couldn't come. Such a shame, I really wanted to show her my new students too." Leine downed what was left in her glass before slamming it down on the table. "You pulled quite the stunt, Kirara. I'm surprised no else was able to figure it out."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. All I hear is the rambling of a drunk."

"I've known you since you've been in diapers, you think I can't tell when you're lying?" Kirara crossed her arms and avoided eye contact with her. "Fine, fine, be that way then. I personally can't help but wonder what would have happened if they called you on your bluff."

Burying herself in her arms, Kirara groaned. "I couldn't think of anything else that would rile him up, ok?"

"You painted yourself as quite the villain. I had trouble keeping myself from laughing when Lamp came running to me in tears saying things like 'Kirara is gonna send him back! What do I do?'"

"..."

"Don't beat yourself up now, dear. You didn't mean any of those things."

"Only some." Kirara glanced up at Leine with regret lingering on her face. "Even if [Call] could send people back home there's no way I could bring myself to do it. Especially not to them."

"I thought so. Things ended pretty well for you anyway so I don't think you should have to worry. So, when do you guys head off?"

"Huh? What do you mean by that," Kirara asked.

"The last time I checked your big sister isn't going deaf. Becoming an actual party takes more than just finding people to travel with." Leine stood up and staggered backward, but before she could fall over she was caught by Kirara. "Thanks, dear."

Putting her hand to the night sky and having the moonlight shine through the cracks of her fingers, Leine continued. "Estermere. That's the name of the main city nearest to here. It's where Kanna and I got our party officially registered, and it's where I want my dear pupils to do the same."

"Leine-san...one of the main cities? You gotta be kidding me, it'll cost a fortune!"

"I'll cover the expenses of getting a decent enough carriage," she said, pulling Kirara into a warm embrace, "just promise me you'll come back in one piece, ok? I still have alot that I wanna teach you."

Kirara returned the hug, tugging onto her green apron with all of her strength. "I promise. Don't forget that there's still a lot that I want to learn, too."


	9. First Encounter

"Really? You want me in charge?"

"Mhm! I think you would make a great leader!"

"Ehhh, that's alot of responsibility though."

Just outside the village, Hanako and I sat underneath the shade of a tree. I was relaxing with a strand of grass in my mouth as Leine and Lamp loaded things into the back of our red and white carriage.

It was horse driven. The actual carriage itself wasn't small by any means, if I had to guess it could fit a good seven or eight people if you tried. And, with at least one person having to stay outside in order to steer the horses, there would be tons of room inside for the remaining three to fool around. 

"It was your idea to do this in the first place," I said, "that makes you the founder of this party. I just thought that meant you were going to be in charge."

Hanako smoothed down her skirt. "But during our fight, you were giving all sorts of orders. Kinda like a ship captain."

"I told you what to do once."

"And it was really convincing! You also got us two new friends to travel with us in no time at all." 

"Still, you sure you want to give up your leadership so soon? T-technically you could order me to do whatever you want."

"Hm," Hanako said, leaning her head on my shoulder, "anything, huh?"

"There would be boundaries of course but..yeah. Anything specific you want?"

She came closer and blew on my ear, causing me to feel hot. "I got one thing in mind."

"You..do, huh?"

"The one thing," she whispered as softly as possible, "the one and only thing I'm going to do as leader is.."

"Y-yeah?"

"Give my spot to you! You really deserve it," Hanako said, giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

"You..." I pinched the bridge of my nose in an attempt to calm myself down. "Geez! Fine, I'll be the best leader ever then!" 

"Yay!"

Kirara emerged from behind the tree with her arms crossed. "If anything, I should take charge since I'm the only one who knows where we're going," she said, pulling a small square out of her skirt pocket. The sun shining off of her hairpins, Kirara held the folded paper between her fingers as she came to a full stop in front of us.

"How much did you hear?" I asked.

She smirked. "Just enough. You don't need to worry though, I have no intentions of leading anything any time soon."

"Wait a minute," I said, stroking my chin. "The leader gets to choose where he sits, right?"

"I guess but I'm not sure why that matters at all."

I got up and walked towards our carriage. Just before I got there, Lamp immediately dropped whatever she was holding and ran to the door. 

"Let..me get... that.. for you," she said, curtsying as she opened it for me. She was clearly out of breath.

I put my hands in front of me. "Um, thanks but I'm not getting in." 

Lamp raised an eyebrow at me as I climbed to the top of the carriage and sat right in the middle, cross-legged. "Chris-sama, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm choosing my spot for our adventure."

"Can I join you up there?"

I waved my hand dismissively. "No can do, Lamp. This is the leader's spot so only I can sit up here," I said as a devilish smile curled onto my lips, "speaking of spots..." I put my fingertips together and cupped my hands as I called out to the two girls near the tree. "Hanako-san, if I'm leader then I officially make you my second in command! I-it just so happens that the official spot for that position is on my lap!"

"Really?! How lucky for me," Hanako said, dusting herself off and strolling over. I grabbed her hand and helped her get on top of the carriage. Once we both sat down, I found myself in my own personal heaven!

Wrapping my hands around her waist, I buried my face into Hanako's hair. Even if her bun or hairpin got in the way sometimes, not even the softest, most delicate silk could have compared what her hair felt like. I could've, without a doubt in my mind, fallen asleep using all her fluff as an impromptu pillow.

"Smooth as ever, aren't we, Chris?" Kirara asked, whacking the carriage with her staff.

"I feel like I should be telling you to shut up or something but I'm too immersed in this fluffy paradise to really be sure."

"Hopefully this is a regular thing for the second in command," Hanako said, briefly closing her eyes in bliss. 

"You can bet on that."

Lamp's breathing turned ragged as she stared at the two of us. "Let's all just wait for a second. I think we should hold a vote so that things are fair—"

"Absolutely not," I replied instantly.

After chucking the last bag into back, Leine held a hand to her mouth as she snickered. "You know, you four aren't easing my nerves at all."

"We'll be fine Leine-san." Kirara pulled her off to the side and began to whisper, "at least I will. I'll try my best to babysit the other three."

"I heard that," I said, resting my head on top of Hanako's. "I'll have you know that we can defend ourselves just fine now. Any monsters who come in my and Hanako-san's way won't know what hit them!"

"Yeah! Me and Chris are unstoppable together!" Hanako added.

"As we speak we're coming up with all sorts of techniques so that we can keep everyone safe."

Leine closed her eyes and put a hand to her face. "Oh my, are you now? Your big sister would like to see some of these techniques, how about one last spar before you leave?"

I broke out into a cold sweat at the thought of being pummeled by her again. Rubbing the back of my head, I tried my best to nonchalantly turn her down. "Ah. Well, we could do that but I think we should get going, right guys?"

"I'm in no rush," Kirara said. "Don't you wanna see them go at it again, Lamp?"

"Of course I do. Show us your new moves, you two! One last fight won't hurt anyone."

Wrong, it would hurt me and I didn't want that. Faking a yawn, I said, "I'm feeling a bit tired so I don't think I can really fight like this."

"I'm only joking around, dear. You need all your strength for your journey ahead of you, don't you?" Leine said, giving me a wink.

"O-of course! Who knows what we could meet on our way to..."

Kirara rolled her eyes. "Estermere."

"Yes, yes. Estermeir. That place."

Kirara and Lamp went to the front and sat down on wooden seats. While I personally didn't agree with this, Lamp would be acting as a coachman with Kirara looking over her. This was to make sure she didn't do anything strange.

Leine's expression darkened. "Are..none of you going to be sitting inside the carriage? Your big sister paid alot for this, you know."

"This is the leader's spot," I said bluntly. Hanako nodded, twice. 

"I can't, Leine. Chris-sama entrusted me with the task of getting us to our destination!" Lamp said, petting the back of one of the horses. "Muehehe..five days on the road with creamates."

"Eh, I did?"

Kirara jerked her head in my direction. "Yes. Yes, you did."

"I-I just remembered...right."

"I can't really use the back much either," Kirara said, putting an arm around Lamp who was still drooling, "I gotta make sure this little weirdo doesn't do anything."

"All my savings..down the drain..if I knew this was the case, I would've went with something smaller," Leine whined. "Please find a way to use the extra space..pretty pretty please."

Kirara flailed her arms in an attempt to calm her down. "We will, we will! I'm sure we can use it as a mini infirmary for Hanakoizumi-san or something!"

"Infirmary?" Hanako said, rubbing her thumb across the back of my palm.

"She thinks you'll get hurt again," I said.

"Hey, that's not true! Everything'll go just fine!"

I shot Kirara a quick glance and smirked. "Yeah, Kirara. Everything'll go just fine."

"We'll be using it for you too. Something tells me that I won't have wait very long for that," she said without skipping a beat.

The horses began to trot forward as my hold on Hanako tightened. She responded with a giggle, taking in the atmosphere in front of us. A dirt road that was paved for miles upon miles, the smell of the freshly cut, dark green grass that surrounded it, and an overwhelming feeling of childish glee. To Lamp and Kirara, this may have been nothing more than just another outing but to the two of us, that couldn't have been any further than the truth.

"Onee-chan!" I yelled. She stood with her hands folded as I waved to get her attention. "The next time you see me, I'll officially be an adventurer! Just you wait until our next spar, you won't know what hit you! Probably."

Kirara gripped her skirt before shooting up. One leg bent on the bench she was sitting on, she used both hands to call out to Leine. "Me too! I'll become an adventurer and make you proud!"

"Bye, bye Leine-chan," Hanako cheered.

Leine calmly waved back at us. "Be safe on your trip," she said, "once you get your licenses, I got something special planned for you four so please hurry back soon! You wouldn't want to make your big sister worry, would you?"

Taking our first steps outside of Kirara's village—our first adventure was finally underway!

-

-

The ride was bumpy. Every now and then the carriage would hit a rock, throwing Hanako and I upwards slightly. Maybe sitting inside would have been the smarter thing to do but there was no way that I was missing out on the beautiful scenery in front of me. That being Hanako's precious orange locks, of course.

"Is it really that soft?" she asked. I hummed in agreement. "You really are like a baby sometimes, it's adorable."

"Yeah, yeah." I took a break from my fluffy utopia and stared ahead of me. Still nothing but dirt road. Resting my chin on top of Hanako's head something caught my attention.

Unlike Kirara who leaned backward, Lamp had her eyes on the road with her back completely straight. In between her and where the carriage started was the pink and white book. 

"Hanako-san, can you get that for me," I said, pointing at it. She immediately snatched the book from between her. A loud, metallic thud could be heard as Lamp fell back and smacked her head, followed by soft whimpering.

"Hanako-sama, Chris-sama, you could have made me crash! Behave yourselves," Lamp said, caressing herself.

"Crash on what exactly?" I asked. It wasn't like we were in the most crowded of places. "Sorry, though. I thought you were paying attention."

"Didn't mean to hurt you," Hanako said, clapping her hands together like she was praying to a statue. "Kirara-chan, hurry! She needs you to heal her!"

"No," she replied.

"Huh? Why not!"

Lamp sniffed. "It's fine, just be more careful next time."

"Honestly now, what is it with this thing," I said, turning the book around and inspecting it. "It keeps popping up everywhere."

Now that I got a good look at it, I could say that the cover was a little more detailed than I first thought. Alot of it was white space. No title. No cover illustration. But, right in the middle of three layers of circles was a star. Four golden crosses, the same design that was on Lamp's dress, extended through both the first and second layers and touched the pink outer parts of the book.

"I've seen a few times too. I thought it just belonged to Leine-chan," Hanako said.

"No way it would be hers. Senpai was reading it at her place, maybe we packed some of her stuff on here by mistake."

"You think so? I did see Polka-chan with it a few times. She was using it as a stool so her pants wouldn't get all sandy."

Lamp slammed her hands on top of the carriage, startling us both. "She did what?!"

"So much for safely getting us to our destination," Kirara grumbled as she took over as coachman.

"It belongs to me!" Lamp said, swiping the book from me and dusting it off with her hand. After a few good pats and a blow for good measure, she angrily shook her fist at the sky. "Polka...just you wait until we come home, I'll request a bunch of custom weapons and triple your workload."

"You're just giving her more money then, aren't you?" I asked.

Hanako carefully crawled forward before sitting on her knees. "What's it about Lamp-chan? It must be a really interesting book for you to bring it with you everywhere."

"Well, yeah... It's the most fascinating, most amazing book in the world!" Lamp's flushed face squished and rubbed against the book. "I've cared for and cherished this copy of the scriptures ever since I was a little girl. Special doesn't even begin to explain this." Hanako and I leaned forward on our hands and knees as she flipped to a new page. Much to my surprise, it was completely blank with no words to be seen.

"There's..nothing there," I said.

"Wrong, there's nothing there. Yet!" she replied, holding the book to the sun. The crosses shined as she continued in a somber yet determined tone. Seeing this side of Lamp was something I wasn't used to yet. "Constantly updating with tales about creamates that fill me with uttermost joy, this copy of the scriptures never runs out of pages. Someone who's really important to me gave it as a gift so as far as I know, it's one of a kind."

I gasped before shakily turning to Hanako. "Do my ears deceive me? I didn't think someone as perverted as Lamp would have a b-boyfriend."

"What?! No, you got the wrong idea!"

"Or girlfriend," Hanako said.

Lamp covered her blushing face with her book. "I...don't have a lover. All my affection goes towards the creamates and all their greatness." Completely straight-faced she turned around and winked. "Oh, and you too, Kirara."

"I-is that so..." Kirara said, keeping her eyes on the road.

Now that she was in control of the horses, it was much easier to stay on top of the carriage. About half an hour had passed when the grass that was on both sides of us got significantly shorter. 

"Stop the carriage," I said, sternly. My eyes had found a new target.

Kirara raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

Crouching on one knee and ready to jump, I repeated myself cheerily. "Let's stop for a sec, ok? There's no way I'm missing out on seeing one of these things up close."

Kirara hesitantly looked to her right. A blue, gelatinous blob was happily hopping around on its lonesome. It was circular in shape and jiggled each time it hit the ground. "The slime? You'll see plenty of them later. Let's just keep moving forward for no—"

"Lamp. Stop the carriage."

Perking up as if my words acted as a remote control, she saluted me. With a "right away, Chris-sama!" Lamp shoved Kirara to the side, forcing her back to her original spot. The carriage came to a full stop as she used all her strength to pull on the leash.

I hopped off and activated [Shroud]. It acted much differently than in the fight against the stone giant. Smaller, more controlled flames flickered and popped around my body, acting more like sudden bursts of lightning than fire. 

The change was sudden, but a welcome one for sure. I would gladly take this over my fire exploding outwards, setting everything nearby ablaze. This was much more environmentally friendly, which was nice and all but I still couldn't help but ask why. My strength hadn't gone down since then, at least, I think it didn't. That sort of thing is always hard to figure out.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Kirara said. 

I ignored her. They were just slimes after all. The same slimes you'd see at the beginning of any RPG. The same slimes who, once you're done with the main game and head back to the starting area, easily die in one hit. Not to say that I'm anywhere near that level or anything, that would be wrong. In this case, I would definitely still be in the tutorial. Still, despite this, I'm definitely sure that I could beat a slime.

I crouched down and poked it a few times. Well, I say poked but my finger went through each time I touched the thing. It had no solid form whatsoever. 

"How's it feel, Chris?" Hanako asked.

"Gross." My shoulders sank as I answered. "It's like running my hand through watery jello. Geez, this is no fun...I can't even hold it. They always looked like they'd be really soft too... Ah, well I guess it doesn't matter anymore," I said, raising my hand to the sky.

"I really. Wouldn't do that if I were you—" Kirara repeated.

My hand chopped through the slime like a butter knife to butter. Then, there was a pause. 

One. Two. 

The slime exploded with a loud pop.

My outfit completely covered in blue sludge, I crashed to the ground and frantically scrubbed my eyes with my sleeves in hope they would get whatever was splashed in them.

"—especially since getting slime goo in your eyes really stings. What was it again? The equivalent of two bottles of soap..or was it four?"

"That's too specific!" 

I thrashed about for a little while longer until the stinging pain subsided. When I could open my eyes again, which was not by much, mind you, everything around me was nothing more than a blur. Trees, grass, Kirara's mocking snickers, Hanako's precious locks, these were easy to pinpoint. The carriage? Not so much.

Four slimes appeared as I sat on my knees and squinted to see them better. Squishing their bodies together, they became larger in size. Five more showed up. Then another seven. All of them continued to fuse together until what was once as small as one of my boots came to be twice my size. How many bottles of soap was this thing worth? It hopped closer to me, leaving some bits of sludge behind. The slime jiggled and contorted once it hit the ground again.

"I got you, Chris! Oh but close your eyes first, that looked like it really hurt," Hanako said, jumping off the carriage and snapping a piece of her shield off, "we wouldn't want you going blind, would we?" What an angel! 

I shut my eyes as hard as I could, even using my hands to cover them just to be sure. Hanako threw one of her clovers like a frisbee and lodged it into the giant slimes core.

I counted in my head. One. Two.

Pop.

Sludge came raining down from the sky, painting our pristine white carriage with spots of sky blue. Kirara had no problem whacking all the goop that came her way as Lamp followed behind, holding her book as close to her as humanly possible.

"Here lies Chris, the greatest adventurer who ever lived. Defeated by a slime," Kirara said, hooking an arm under one of mine. Hanako had the other.

"S-shut up! I didn't think it would just explode when I hit it!"

"Maybe next time you shouldn't hit things you've never seen before."

"I thought it would be an easy win."

"Don't worry Chris-sama," Lamp said, patting me on the back, "I thought it was really cool."

Hanako ruffled my hair. "Now that you know what they do, the next time you fight one will be a piece of cake!"

"Y-yeah! Next slime we see won't know what hit it," I said. 

Kirara opened the carriage door and told me to get in. I fumbled backward before finding my footing again.

"You got hurt. Get in the back and rest for a little while," she insisted.

"Things may look bad now but I have the perfect cure-all remedy for my little injury!" I jumped into Hanako and planted my head on top of hers. "Hanako-san's hair has healing properties that you couldn't even begin to understand! It's so amazingly soft that even gods would line up to touch it!"

"What is it with you and soft things!?!"


	10. The Village of Erwood

Lamp, Hanako, and I sat on tree stumps around an open fire. Aside from the moon and the small number of stars in the sky, this fire that took forever to set up was our only source of light. Actually starting it didn't take long at all, I could make fire whenever I wanted. Chopping down some nearby trees wasn't too bad either. It was just slightly time-consuming. But having to pull four tree stumps out the ground and lug them around until we found the "perfect spot" to rest definitely felt like an eternity.

The wind suddenly picked up, causing flames to explode towards Hanako. She hid behind her shield until the fire stabilized again.

"Hanakoizumi-san?!" Kirara yelled, poking her head from behind the carriage.

"Whew, that one was close," Hanako said, opening Lamp's book to a blank page, "Chris, would that be a minor or small incident?"

"Did your clothes catch fire?" I asked. After quickly inspecting herself, she shook her head. "It's a minor one for sure."

Hanako marked down another straight line. "That makes twenty-five! We're getting closer to the big one."

"You say that as if it's a good thing. The last thing I need is it going off before we're ready."

"What are you two talking about?" Lamp said, wrapping her arms around us.

"It's an exercise for our misfortunes," I explained. Hanako and I weren't the smartest of people. In terms of sports and athleticism, we definitely weren't anything special either. This is why Tennomifune Academy, an elite school where the cream of the crop all over the world go to hone their skills, put me and Hanako in the happiness class. 

It was here that we were taught how to deal with our misfortunes. Since it could be used to keep Hanako from getting seriously hurt, one lesson specifically stuck out to me.

"Situational Awareness Exercises or S.A exercises for short. Three hundred. Twenty-nine. One."

Lamp blinked a few times in confusion. "Three hundred and thirty."

"That's really fast math, Lamp-chan but no," Hanako said, "three hundred super small accidents, twenty-nine minor accidents, and one really huge one!"

I rested my hand on her head. "Nice to see that you still remember too. Anyways, Sensei taught us to nip any minor mishaps in the bud so that we don't have to worry about any big ones. For someone with a misfortune like mine, I should simply watch what I say since it could be easily be misunderstood. Since I..scare people and stuff."

"Not everyone can handle his adorable kitty eyes." She giggled.

"They're not kitty eyes, dumb dork!"

"They are so, giant meanie!"

We both puffed out our cheeks at each other before turning our attention to behind us. "What do you think, Lamp?!" we said, completely in tune with each other.

Distressed that she had to choose between the two of us, Lamp shifted her gaze to me, then Hanako, then me again. "Uhm...well, Chris-sama's eyes do kinda look like a cat's but—"

"Oh, so you're siding Hanako-san, huh?" I crossed my arms and turned away from her. "Hmph! I see how it is!"

"W-wait no! Now that I get a good look at them, they're a bit more snake-like—"

"I thought we were friends, Lamp-chan," Hanako said, and turned the other way.

"Kirara..." Lamp whined. "Help me, please."

"Now, now children. There's no reason to fight," Kirara said, as unimpressed as ever. While we were busy with our important debate, she had been digging through the back of the carriage. A sewing kit, some sleeping bags, a special weapon sharpening kit with Polka's face on it, (only 300 gold a pop! What a steal!) and a variety of other items were sprawled out on the ground. 

Kirara slumped back down on her stump with a heavy sigh. "Especially since there are much more pressing issues. Leine-san didn't pack anything for us to eat."

Hanako grabbed onto Kirara and said, "Nothing!? You're joking, right Kirara-chan? We had a huge meal not too long ago, there has to be something."

"Uh..no. I checked. Please stop shaking me," Kirara said. "Leine-san's someone who likes to keep you on your toes so this was to be expected."

Hanako and I hugged each other and fell to our knees in despair. "We're going to starve to death!" I cried.

"My tummy is already running on empty!"

"I wanted to touch more soft things before I kicked the bucket.."

Kirara's staff forcefully thumped against the dirt. "No one is gonna starve, alright? When I was younger, Leine-san let me go on a few adventures with her and even if I would complain, even if I would cry and pout, she forced us to go empty-handed. Just as the growling in my stomach got to its peak and my legs were about to give out, Leine-san and I would reach our destination and she would finally let us gather our supplies. Erwood's location has kinda been drilled into me. Could even get there blindfolded if I felt like it."

"She..really goes to the extreme when it comes to teaching people, huh?" I asked, forcing a smile. Just how much scarier can she get?

Hanako crashed into Kirara, using her arms and legs to stick to her like glue. "Woohoo," she cheered. "I'm gonna thank Leine-chan once we get back."

"Oi, how about thanking the person who's showing you where to go."

-

-

By the time we arrived at Erwood, it was already noon.

"It wasn't like this at all when I was a kid..." Kirara said, and crouched down to scratch at the rust on the ground. "This place really went downhill."

She wasn't wrong by any means. If anything it was an understatement. A majority of the houses were either rundown with chunks of rusted scrap metal hanging off them or redesigned to be completely covered in it. The ground we stood upon was no different, squeaking each time any of us took a step.

In terms of size, it was about as big as Kirara's village despite its current state. It seemed that even in this world of swords and magic, money could prove to be an issue for some people. 

I pulled down on some strands of hair and held it. Kirara was in front of the rest of us with her arms at her hips. "The market shouldn't be too far from here," she said, "1200 gold should be enough to get us some stuff for the road. Sorry, you had to give back your allowance though Hanakoizumi-san. If anything I think it was really mature of you."

A small cat zipped between my legs before heading further into the village. "Kitty!" Hanako said, her face lighting up like a star on a Christmas tree. She bolted after the cat with full intent to pet it.

"Ah. Just as I was praising you too." Kirara sighed. "Go chase after your girlfriend, Chris."

I lightly scratched my face. "W-well, when you say it like that..."

"You've been dating for a year! Get over it!"

"Lamp, look after Hanako-san for me, will you?" I clapped my hands together and put on my best pouty face. "I know I can depend on you, right?"

Lunging forward and touching the ground, Lamp flexed whatever muscles she had in her skinny legs. "My. Pleasure. Chris-sama," she said, exhaling shortly afterward. The ground might as well have split apart with how she broke into a full sprint and vanished into the village.

Kirara nudged me with the narrow end of her staff. "You really gotta stop doing that."

"What? I wouldn't ask if I couldn't depend on her. This is Hanako-san we're talking about, very serious business."

"That's why I'm surprised you didn't go. Any other time you'd break your neck trying to catch up with her."

"Lamp wouldn't let anything happen to the dork, I'm sure of it. Besides, since we're out shopping I wanted to add to the grocery list. That's all."

"I see."

With my hands in my pocket and Kirara's staff clanking against the ground with each step we took, we began to make our way to the market. House numbers were poorly scribbled out and replaced with newer looking ones. Graffiti stylized with symbols that were foreign to me covered the side of some buildings.

Whenever we would pass a house, Kirara gazed at it longingly before going back to hanging her head. It was clear to me that this place was getting to her. In a situation like this, what would Hanako do?

"N-Nuh...Ne! I wanna know more about you and Onee-chan," I said. She looked up at me. Compared to Hanako and me, our height difference wasn't all that noticeable but it was still there. 

"That's a bit out of the blue...whats a 'ne'?"

"Last night when you were telling us about your first few adventures, I've never seen you smile like that before." When we were leaving too, it was Kirara who seemed the most emotional when saying goodbye to Leine. "It was a really warm smile. You must really care about her, huh?"

"I owe everything to her, absolutely everything." Kirara clutched her cloak. "Some of the first memories I have outside of my home were none other than right here with Leine-san. Right there," she said, pointing at a building that had bolts on the door, "it used to be a candy shop! Whenever I felt down she would carry me on her back and tell me to pick whatever I wanted."

I walked over to a deserted food stand. It looked like it shut down long before we had arrived. "Remember anything about this thing?"

Kirara held her stomach and stuck her tongue out. "Ramen," she said, "we would play this game where we choose the others flavor and if one person couldn't handle how spicy it was, they would have to give their bowl to the winner. Never won once."

"Not good with spicy things?"

"Never have been, never will. She always said it was her treat but I just feel like she wanted an excuse to eat more than one bowl." She laughed and wiped a tear from her eye. "So many precious memories are tied to Erwood. To see it like this breaks my heart."

I was lost for words. At one point in front of me was light, absolutely obscuring whatever was beyond it. Back then, she hadn't hesitated one bit at what she wanted to say. Ten years later in this world of swords and magic, why couldn't I help out a friend the same way Hanako helped me?

As we turned the corner, Kirara bumped into a little kid and they both fell to the ground. The girl, who was rubbing her behind, wore a tattered dress that was covered in dirt.

I reached my hand out to the little girl and asked, "are you alright?" She flinched and covered her head.

"She must think you're a noble," Kirara said, standing up and dusting herself off.

"A what now? It's just my eyes scaring her, I can handle this."

She sighed. "Noble. Completely separate from kings or queens, those who have noble blood are descendants of the people who first set foot in Etoilia. Because of this, they ignorantly see themselves as gods. The true difference between a main city and a village is whether or not you have one of those guys to fund you."

"Funding is the problem, huh? But your village looks pretty well off compared to here."

"Leine and Kanna-san may be retired now but before then, they gave their all into making sure the future generation could thrive."

"I didn't take sadistic ole Onee-chan as the hero type. Could easily see her as a tyrant or demon lord or something." 

She poked me in the gut again. "Stop that, you're giving me chills."

I crouched down to face the little girl who was trembling as she held herself. This is the part where S.A exercises become important. My misfortune tended to make people fear me but as long as I watched my tongue, things were less likely to escalate. 

"You're not hurt are you?" I asked, reaching out again. The girl slowly opened her eyes and met my gaze. "A friend of mine bumped into you. Sorry if I gave you a little scare, it wasn't my intention at all." My hand gradually came closer as she seemed to calm down.

Two tiny hands grabbed onto mine. "Ni...na..." she mumbled, immediately forcing her head downwards.

"Nina?"

"I think it's her name," Kirara said.

"Ah, that's a really pretty name," I said, helping her up. Let's see, if Hanako was here she would definitely call her... "Say Nina-c-chan, what are you doing wandering around? Could it be that you're lost?"

She violently shook her head and stared at the ground. "I explore around these parts all the time. My mom made me remember the whole map by heart."

"Wow, you're pretty smart! To this day I still get lost on my way home."

"That's sad in its own way," Kirara said.

"Shush, you."

"Mister," Nina squeaked, holding the ends of her dress, "were you attacked by a monster on the way here? Your eyes they're—"

"Scary right? I get it." I gestured directly below my iris, "fun fact, they're actually called sanpaku eyes. Which means you can see the white space both below and above where my eye is. I may look mean but I'm really not all that bad.

"If it helps at all, they're kinda like cat eyes," I said, making cat ears with my hands. "N-nyan. Nyan."

As Kirara mockingly snickered, Nina giggled and signaled for me to kneel down. Once at her level, the sounds of a stomach growling caught my attention. Now that I got a good look at her, Nina's clothes looked no better than mine when I first stepped foot in Etoilia. Dirty and torn. 

She petted me as if I was an animal and said, "Mister cat-boy!"

"Yeah, that's it! Don't seem too bad now, do I?" I said, gleefully. "How would you like to go to the market with me and my friend?"

"That sounds like fun! Let's go!"

-

-

Kirara ended up buying canned goods and rations. Dried fruits, canned fruits and veggies, small packaged snacks for the road and all that jazz. At first glance, you could have sworn we were preparing for military service with the things she bought.

I triumphantly held my spoils of war to the sky and marched around. Chicken breast, ribs, beef or steak, it didn't matter! Meat was meat and I couldn't go five days without eating it.

"We're going to have to use that tonight, you know," she said, holding a bag full of groceries. "It'll go bad otherwise."

Even better! 

Nina pulled at my robes. "No fish? I heard cats eat fish all the time."

"Ew, of course not. Fish is gross—" WHACK! Kirara smacked me upside the head with her staff. "Ow...this cat is a little sick of fish, you know? I wanna broaden my horizons a little bit."

Gripping her stomach, Nina slowed down. It growled, this time loud enough for Kirara to hear. "Woops, sorry about that," she said, running up to us. "Thinking and looking at all that food made me hungry."

"Heard it back then as well."

"You did?! I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry," she said, bowing over and over again. "I didn't mean to bother you. Haauu...this is so embarrassing."

"When was the last time you ate?" 

She paused to think about it. "About two days ago."

I stopped dead in my tracks and dug my fingers into my hands. With her arms out, Nina circled me in confusion.

"Two days? You have to be kidding me," Kirara said. 

"Nope, money's a bit tight nowadays. They don't have to worry much longer though. When I grow up and learn magic, I'm gonna become a super cool adventurer!"

Just like Leine did to Kirara and Hanako did to me. I too wished to become someone who can inspire others to push forward. If I wanted to run full speed ahead towards our shared dream, hesitation was not an option. 

"Kirara, pouch," I said, opening and closing my hand. She handed it to me without a word. Getting on Nina's level once more, I placed my hand on her head. "Nina-chan, how old are you?"

"I'm eight! Only two more years until I'm allowed to sign up to a guild."

"I see, I see, you're a pretty big girl. How about your family? Got any siblings?"

She shook her head. "It's only me, mom and dad."

I placed Kirara's pouch in her hands and closed them. "Inside that is 200 gold. I'm not sure how long that'll feed three people for but it's all we have left." Nina's eyes sparkled with excitement as I kept her hands shut. My cheeks felt so hot they might as well have been on fire. "I know we haven't known each other for long but can you do me a favor with that money?"

She didn't say a word, only nodding before staring at me with her amber eyes. With two fingers I pulled my cheeks upwards and closed my eyes.

"Go to mom and dad as fast as you can. With a massive smile on your face, tell them you found this laying around. Can you do that for me, Nina-chan?"

Her grip tightened as she nodded again. She turned around to leave but paused again. "Nina-chan?" I said, softly.

She reached into her dress pocket and rummaged around before taking out a charm that had a vibrant orange sunflower on it. After putting it around my neck, Nina hugged me and brushed her face against my robes.

"Thank you, mister," she said, her voice softened by the material of my clothing.

"Bye, Nina-chan."

And with that, she was gone. I stayed crouched with the charm still in my hands. The picture of the sunflower was hand-drawn with a gorgeous blue sky behind it and the chain was painted yellow to make it look like it was gold. It was beautiful, truly only something a child could make.

Kirara put a hand on my shoulder. "Never knew you were so good with kids."

"Going to sleep on an empty stomach is a horrible feeling," I said, hiding the charm in my shirt. "No kid should have to feel that way, ever."

Directly from the heart and with no uncertainty in her words. That's the way she spoke to me on that fateful day ten years ago. No matter how long it takes, even if it's one person at a time.

"Kirara." I faced her as my determination rose. "Filled to the brim with precious memories, Erwood is something you hold dear. It'll be hard, I won't deny that. And plus, we don't even have our licenses yet..but that's not the point! In order to restore this place to its former glory,"

And in order to shine as brilliantly as she did all those years ago.

With my closed fist put forward, I said, "I'm going to create a world where everyone can smile and coexist together. That's the dream Hanako-san and I share."

"That's what you've decided, huh?" Kirara's mouth quivered as she covered her eyes. "I'll definitely take you up on that promise. Geez, you've been worrying about me this whole time, haven't you?"

I walked a few steps ahead of her and crossed my arms. "You shouldn't get the wrong idea or anything. As I said, I just wanted to add to the grocery list." 

"I see. Tsundere."

"S-shut up!"

Back at the carriage, Lamp had the black and white cat peacefully sleeping on her head. As for Hanako...she had a large scratch running down her cheek. I would go on to mark this down as the twenty-sixth minor accident but for now, I just let Kirara heal her and called it a day. 

With Hanako and I on top and morale at an all-time high, we rode out of the village of Erwood and towards our next destination— the main city of Estermere!


	11. Aren't You a Bit Too Young for Maid Dresses?

The next few days went by relatively fast. Most of the time was spent keeping the cat we picked up from clawing Hanako's eyes out. I suggested that we turned back and give it away to some shelter but, naturally, she protested. 

I can handle him just fine. Look at his pudgy little face, how could you want to send him away? You just don't trust me with a cat, she had said with three brand new scratches on her face and a plethora of bite marks that ran up her arms. 

Surprisingly enough, the one who suffered the most wasn't Hanako. 

It was Kirara. 

No matter how many hours of sleep she got, day after day of constant healing had left her completely drained. By the time we arrived at our next stop, she was already quite done with everyone.

"Everyone, out. Now," Kirara said, sliding off the carriage with the grace of a drunk ballerina.

I hopped off and shielded my eyes from the sun. This was just another village, a much smaller one at that. A handful of wooden houses resided by a lake, some big and fancy while others took the more cabin-like approach. Opposite of that stood a forest with tall trees. It's leaves and branches swayed peacefully in the wind.

"This is a main city?" Hanako asked, inching her hand towards Lamp's head. I smacked it away immediately. "Lemme pet him, Chris!"

"You'll get scratched again, quit being a dummy!"

"Will not," she held up her recently healed arm, "it's been a few hours since the kitty last got me. You're just being a worrywart again."

"You said that last time and what happened? It bit your cheek. This is only for your safety."

"Ah come on, Chris-sama! I'm sure she'll be extra careful this time, right, Hanako-sama?" Lamp said, leaning her head towards her. Hanako aggressively nodded her head and went in for another pat.

I caught her hand. "Quit enabling her, Lamp. You know how much she loves animals so you can't go waving them in her face and expect her not to react."

"Worrywart."

"Huge worrywart," Hanako said, pouting. "The kitties claws are so much sharper in this world. Wonder if it means their fur is softer too."

"I don't know. Maybe you could find out if a certain someone would let you touch him."

"This isn't fair, I'm being double teamed!" I said. "It's not just for your sake, you know? Every time you get hurt you're making Kirara more and more tired."

Kirara stopped dead in her tracks and glared at us. Lamp, Hanako and I jolted backward and stood as still as physically possible. "Keep it down and walk," she grumbled, and turned back around.

"And she's scary when she's tired."

After she led us to a short, wooden pier, Hanako and I crouched down and splashed each other with water. Kirara pointed at the open blue sea in front of us. "There," she said, "that's where Estermere is."

"Psst, Kirara. That's a lake. You could have asked me to take over if you needed a nap," Lamp said.

"What?"

"Just show me your map and I'll be their guide. In the meantime, you can get Hanako-sama or Chris-sama to carry you while you're asleep. You haven't been looking too good in the past few days."

"And who's fault is that?! It's really there, look closely."

Through cupped hands, Hanako splashed more water upwards. Time slowed down. Water that was quickly coming towards me divided into circular droplets and froze over. Someone's nails dug into my shoulder, going through the cloth that covered them. 

"[Capture]," a strong authoritative voice called out.

Ice?

The words never got the chance to escape my mouth. Before I had realized it I was completely encased within a crystal of solid ice. It stuck tight to my body and forced any attempt at movement to fail immediately.

My vision, although distorted and misshapen by the ice, was still intact. Through the side of my eye, a figure slightly taller than Kirara towered over my crouched body, hand still confidently on my shoulder.

"Everhill guard," she said, her sky blue eyes piercing through the ice and sending a chill down to the base of my spine. Hanako gripped her weapon but didn't draw it. "Any of you bastards move an inch and I'll kick your asses too."

"What's this all about?" asked Kirara, rubbing her eyes before letting out a quiet yawn.

Your leader is captured, act a little more interested!

"Been gettin' reports of a creep walkin' around with a group of girls." The girl patted the crystal she trapped me in. "Bastard I got right here just about fits the bill."

We just got here. Reports sure get looked in to pretty fast in this village, huh? If not for me being unable to speak, I'd definitely be running my mouth about this.

"No, no, you got the wrong idea," Lamp said. 

"Eh, you saying I'm wrong or something? Tell me how you know him then."

Lamp's creepy, ragged breathing became visible and white in the air. "H-how do I know him? He asked me to join his party and I just couldn't refuse."

"Ah. Taken against your will, gotcha," she said, cracking her knuckles. "Oi, star pins. You're next, answer the question."

"Me?" Kirara mumbled.

"I said star pins, damn it! Who the hell else could I be talkin' about?"

"So..loud. Keep it down, will you? You're gonna give me a headache."

She lurched forward. Blonde hair flowed outwards, showcasing the bits of black and white her dress had. The girl grabbed a handful of Kirara's shirt and yanked her forward, pressing her straight bangs against Kirara's parted ones. Once everything was said and done, her hair peacefully flowed down to her ankles, completely going against the aggressive manner in which she carried herself.

"You're pissing me off! Answer me."

Kirara blinked. "Lost a bet. Now I'm apart of his party. Now can you tone it down, even just a little bit?"

Tired Kirara is unfazed!

Still, when you say it like that it sounds pretty bad. Alright, two down and I'm already starting to look like a pretty terrible guy to this guard but surely I can squeeze my way out of this.

I could fully rely on Hanako to help prove my innocence.

The girl hastily turned her attention to her and squatted down to her level. "Buns, how do you know this creep?"

"Buns? Whoa, that's a really nice nickname," Hanako said, dropping all hostility she had towards her. "The guy you have there is no creep, he's Chris! He's my boyfriend."

The guard fell silent before standing up and dusting her hands off. She patted the crystal again and glared at me. "Oh? You're tellin' me that he's a shitty lolicon, then."

I'm going to jail. They're locking me up and throwing away the key. This is where my adventure ends, it was nice while it lasted. Maybe in my next life, I'll be blessed with broken, overpowered abilities like every other isekai protagonist. 

Or I'll be in one of those restaurant isekai worlds. That would be nice.

"Lolicon...loli?" Hanako said, rubbing and groping at her chest. "He always told me that they were getting bigger..."

And they were! We're still growing so there's still tons of time for them to get big. Besides, it's not like I don't like them the way they are or anything. I think it adds to her cuteness.

"Kori!" A tall muscular man approached us, shaking the piers floorboards with every step he took. He crossed his arms before looking down at the girl. "What do you think you're doing? First, you skip out on training and now you're going out and bothering the other villagers."

"Who the hell are you talking to like that, stupid old man? Training ain't training if I keep destroying everyone without breakin' a sweat! That doesn't matter though, I ended up finding this one bastard who's up to no good—"

"And you froze him."

"Damn straight I did! Buns, Star pins, Ribbons, tell him what you told me."

"Is 'ribbons' me?" asked Lamp.

"Don't be a dumbass. Why wouldn't it?"

"We're all in a group together," Kirara said, thumping her staff on the block of ice. "I don't think we can get very far with our leader in this thing so could you maybe let him go?"

Lamp stroked her chin as the cat let out a yawn. "I don't know. I think if his head was sticking through, I could sit wherever I want and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

"I could pet the kitty as much as I wanted too," Hanako said, holding her face.

"Or on second thought just unfreeze him from the neck up."

Harmless teasing aside, with how angry she was, she might do it so maybe don't say things like that.

The muscular man let out a disappointed sigh. "Kori, what have I told you about this? You're not even apart of the Everhill guard so you can't go around using your magic to arrest others, especially those who haven't done anything yet."

"You're just mad that I do your damn job better than you do," she said, and turned to the other girls with her fists up. "You three were messin' with me this whole time, weren't you? I'll take you all on, let's go!"

"I'm sure that this was all just a big misunderstanding. Now just let the boy go."

Kori spat into the lake and jerked her head the side. "Tch, shitty old man."

She snapped her fingers. Cracks formed throughout the ice, shattering layer after layer that had kept me bound so securely. As I dropped to my hands and knees, Hanako checked on me to see if I was alright. 

"I ain't forgettin' this," she muttered under her breath as she began to walk away. The man had his hand on her back just in case she decided to actually follow up on her threats.

"Wait..just a second," I said through long gasps. Kori stopped but didn't look back. 

"The hell do you want?"

My finger shivered as I pointed at her and tilted my head. "Aren't you a bit too young for maid dresses? You look around my or Hanako-san's age. I mean, unless it's some sort of cosplay thing then all the power to you, but it must be pretty hard to move around in that."

There was a moment of silence. Kori clenched her fists and pivoted on her heel, "I'll kick your ass," she snarled as she advanced towards me. The man quickly scooped her up and hoisted her over his shoulder.

"Uppsy daisy," he said with a hearty chuckle. As Kori thrashed about, kicking her legs and scratching at his chainmail armor, the man grinned at the four of us. "Sorry about any inconvenience caused by this one, she's a bit on the feisty side. We'll be taking our leave now."

The man carried her away and left us to ourselves.

"I hope we get to run into her again, she was really fun," Hanako said, wiping the extra specks of frost from my hair.

"Next time you can trade places with me, then," I said.

"No, no, Chris-sama let me trade places with you!" Lamp said, swaying her hips with a flushed face. "Both you and Hanako-sama could do whatever you felt like to the statue."

"That's creepy."

"Carry it wherever you like, use it as a footrest, just about anything you guys want!"

"No, really, please stop."

"Where were we? Ah, right." Kirara rubbed her eyes before making circles with her staff in front of her. "Estermere is just across this lake. Normally, we would take a boat across to get there but after our stop at Erwood, we have nothing to our names. Everyone here fine with swimming?"

I sat up and crossed my legs. "W-with what now?"

"Swimming? I'm really good at that," Hanako said as she dipped her boot in the water. She looked back at me with a worried look. "Chris though..he can float but that's about it."

"Yeah, I'm very buoyant."

Lamp took hold of my arms and placed them around her waist. "Alright, Kirara leave this to me! Onwards to Eastermere!"

"Ester. Mere," she said. "You won't be able to carry him the full way, Lamp."

"But—"

"Five minutes isn't long enough for all of us to get across safely. You won't ever get a quarter of the way in that time. I was hoping to get there today but it looks like we don't really have a choice in the matter," Kirara said. "The average boat ride would be around 350 gold but since we're heading to a main city...around 2000 gold sounds about right. If we all save up, we could hit that goal in no time."

"Ehh, I gotta get a job in this world too?" I said, laying back down and sulking. 

"Either that or you can float your way to Estermere."

"Job it is."


	12. The Murakami Family, Part 1

"My daughter is so cute. There was this one time when she was little and she tried to help me out with baking a cake and she had on the most adorable chef's outfit."

"Uh-huh."

"She tried to carry the bag of flour all by herself but she wasn't strong enough so it went everywhere!"

"Did it now?"

"And as I was cleaning her off she had the cutest pouting face. If you were there, your heart would have just melted!"

"Wow. That's great." My back slumping against a tree and sliding down until my butt hit the mulch, I put my face in my hands. "Just great."

How did it get to this? 

"Job it is," I had said. How young and naive I was back then, thinking that it would be easy for me to be hired. How painfully, painfully naive. The moment I would go in for the interview and the interviewer got a good look at me, things were already set in stone. It seemed that the S.A exercises that I worked so hard to study didn't mean much if the person in question had to make a judgment based on first glance.

Shortly after my second failed interview, the girls had come up to me with great news!

"Lookie here! Me, Kirara-chan, and Lamp-chan have jobs now!" Hanako and the others flapped their papers that had a bright green "approved" stamped on them. I congratulated them, saying how it wouldn't take too much longer to get our licenses now that we can start saving for the boat ride. 

Good for them. No, really. They all got hired at the same place, even Hanako who had the exact same credentials as me. Absolutely nothing. Don't get the wrong idea or anything, I wasn't jealous in the slightest. Jealous and I would only share the same sentence together if the words "was" and "not" were in the middle.

Another few days and one more failed interview later, I had been lying on top of our carriage (absolutely not sulking, mind you) next to the black and white cat that we had to pry off of Lamp's head earlier that morning.

"It's just me and you," I had said, reaching my hand out towards the sky, "two peas in a pod. They wouldn't let you work anywhere either, huh buddy?"

The cat meowed and scratched at its ear.

"What happened? Ah, well, I had that last one completely in the bag! Completely aced it! At the last second though...I kinda blew it by looking at him. He couldn't keep his notes straight so the interview was pretty much rushed through."

"Meow."

"I'm trying my best ok... I would have aced it if I didn't mess up."

"Meow."

"What do you mean that's not what aced means? Tell you what, the next one is one hundred percent in the bag, you hear me? I'll be a good leader and help out my group!" 

The cat's back hunched as two loud bangs vibrated throughout the carriage, shaking it as if it was just another leaf in the wind. I barely was able to keep myself from toppling off and hitting the ground.

Just as I thought it was over, the side opposite from me was forced downwards, revealing the muscular man with a look of giddy plastered on his face. I clawed behind me to no avail as I slid down and met him face to face.

"O-old man?!" I said before scrambling to covering my mouth. "Wait, no, I didn't mean it like that. Please don't arrest me, Hanako-san's the same age as me I swear it!"

The man chuckled. "I've already accepted that I'm way past my prime anyway so there's no need to worry, boy! Not sure what you're on about but I overheard that you were having trouble finding somewhere to work?"

"It's a-a work in progress, yeah, that's it. It's not that bad, I'll find something soon."

"You were talking to this little fella, weren't ya?" he asked, referring to the cat resting on his beefy shoulder. "That sounds pretty bad if I say so myself. If you need some extra cash I can help you out. That is, if you're willing to follow me into the forest!"

"...What?"

This is how I met Murakami Tetsuya.

Not having any kings, queens, or nobles to help out with regular affairs meant that villages had to fend for themselves. Being a relatively smaller village, the people of Everhill decided to put together a group of people who could help maintain peace and stability for everyone. 

Tetsuya wasn't the easiest to approach. And with his X-shaped scar on his cheek, manly-looking beard that connected to what little hair he had left on his head, and muscles that looked as if Michelangelo himself chiseled them from stone, it wasn't exactly hard to see why. However, as I already knew, looks can prove to be quite deceiving.

Being the chief of the Everhill guard, he was in charge of most things that occurred in the village. The first day I was put on the guard as a temporary member, I was hoping to see the guard in action, fighting to protect the village and everyone in it.

That didn't happen. He took me deep into the forest, sat me down, and told me stories about his daughter. The first time she went to school and didn't cry, her first words, and cute stuff like that. 

Yes, what most people didn't know about Murakami Tetsuya was that he was a gentle giant who just wanted to gush about his family and I was being paid to listen to his ramblings. 

A week of "my daughter is so cute, this" and "did I tell you time when she, that" had passed, physically draining me after each day. Money was money though. If it meant that I could help out, I was willing to sit through years of these stories. 

The rays of the sun shone down on me as I sat against one of the trees with my face in my hands, this is just about where I had left off. 

"You listening?" Tetsuya said, lifting my arm only for it to lifelessly flop back down.

"Uh-huh."

"You alright there, boy? You got bags under those eyes of yours."

I blinked twice. "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good, good I thought I lost you there. I asked if you were really planning on becoming an adventurer."

Hopping to my feet and banging my gauntlets together, I said, "Yup! My friends are working hard to get a bunch of gold so I really appreciate you doing this for me. Why do you ask?"

He grabbed hold of my forearm and squeezed it before shaking his head in disappointment. 

"You've got no meat on your bones! How can you expect to fight when you're as skinny as a toothpick." Tetsuya flexed his arm and held it uncomfortably close to my face, squishing my cheek into his rock hard bicep. "Having a body like that out there is asking you to be monster food. Have you never worked out a day in your life?"

I jerked my arm away from him and rolled up my sleeve, flexing my arm back at him. "I have! Hanako-san said I had lean muscle! Lean muscle! My body may not be as big as yours but that doesn't mean anything." 

"Lean muscle, you say?"

"You heard right, you can't just expect me to bulk up all of a sudden."

"Lean muscle...muscle..I," he said, both hands on my shoulders, "wanna see!"

In one sudden swoop, Tetsuya snatched my robes off and tossed them aside, leaving me shirtless. Before I could cover myself he began to poke and squeeze various parts of my body. 

"W-what do you think you're doing!"

"Arms..filled out. The stomach could use some work but your chest is pretty nice too. Amazing, simply amazing, so this is the power of lean muscle."

Flames trailed the ground as I used [Shroud] to fling myself backward, crouching as I landed. "Stupid! Pervert! Idiot!"

"Looking good," he said, giving a thumbs-up, "even if you're not as strong as I am, you've got my seal of approval. I suggest doing some crunches so you can tone your stomach more though."

"This body isn't for your eyes, you brute. If I can't get married after this I'm blaming you, you know!"

"Married? Pffft.."

Leaves that were on the ground flew upward as this behemoth of a man fell backward, holding his sides as though they were about to fall off.

"Bwahaha! You've got the heart of a maiden, boy," he exclaimed, wiping the tears from his eyes, "but that's why I like ya. None of my men want to hear this old man go on and on about the past no matter what I offer them, gold, promotions, training, they just don't wanna hear it. You though, you'll listen to me for hours upon hours without any complaints. I kind of feel as though I'm talking your ear off."

"Well, yes and no if that makes any sense."

I understood how it felt to want to gush about the things that you love. One of the bad parts about not being completely honest with myself is that the feelings that I wish to convey to others often end up being unsaid, causing only the harsh things I've said to stay fresh in my mind. 

Questions begin to arise like, "why do you continue to be nice to someone like me?" and "do I truly deserve to stay by your side?"

Sometimes it's good having someone, anyone who will let you get things off your chest, especially if they're feelings that are usually so pent up inside.

"Say, why don't you come over to my home for dinner? Think of it as a reward for continuing to come here every day."

"Sure, I'll be there," I said. My cheeks burned a scarlet red as I stared at the ground and fiddled my thumbs. "But before that...do you think I could tell you a few stories of my own?"

-

-

Meanwhile, back in the village:

"Just a tiny bit longer," Hanako said, "hang in there, Lamp-chan! Fight on!"

"My legs are starting to feel like jelly..."

"Fight on! Fight on!"

Their job was simple. Bring the long freshly cut down logs from one side of the village to the other so that they could be used for either fixing a broken-down house or building a new one. Once they hit their quota of 100 or there were no more logs to carry over, they were done for the day. 

Hanako didn't hate what she was doing, she got to be outside with all her friends so how could she bring herself to? It's just that she much preferred a job that would have something to do with animals. While most wildlife that was considered hostile was taken out by the guard, she would often hang out near the outskirts of the forest on her lunch breaks and every once in a while, some exotic looking birds would come up to greet (peck) her.

How lucky is that?

Twisting her face into all sorts of expressions, Lamp's pace slowed down underneath the weight of the two logs. "I can't..make...it."

Something was slightly off about the weight of the logs but Hanako just couldn't put her finger on it. Being the last ones of the day, simple fatigue could possibly be the answer but she, unlike Lamp, wasn't one to get tired easily. 

"Watch out!"

Suddenly, two buzzsaws shot towards the girls from above. Instinctively, Hanako's chains emerged from her back and attempted to grab them. No good. At the current speed the saws were at, her chains wouldn't be able to stop both of them in time.

If [Holy Chains] won't work then surely it would be fine to use something else. With her one free hand, she placed a hand on her ribbon that kept the longer sides of her hair up in a bun and prepared to pull. 

An ice pillar the size of a house whisked past Hanako's face, blowing her hand backward. It unnaturally curved as it forced its way in between them and expanded, creating a rigid, half igloo-like shape above the logs they were carrying. The two saw blades didn't have a chance at piercing through, only managing to get stuck within the pillar instead.

A lady ran up to the two girls and began to continuously bow before them. "I'm so sorry," she said, "you guys aren't hurt at all, are you?"

Hanako waved her hand. "Nu-uh I'm A-ok, don't worry miss!"

"Yeah, not a scratch on us."

"Oi, oi, oi! Can you dumbasses do anything right?"

Kori exhaled as a white mist escaped the side of her mouth. She confidently strode to the lady and put a finger in her face. "Be more careful when dealin' with sharp crap, you hear me? I'll kick your ass otherwise. Last thing I need is more people dyin' on me."

"Y-yes, Frozen Fist! It'll never happen again!"

Frozen Fist? Maybe some sort of nickname? Hanako found it cute.

She angrily gestured her thumb backward and said, "better not. Now get outta here."

The lady ran off and Kori shifted her focus to Hanako and Lamp. She must have seen a nasty looking bug because her face that usually sported a scowl had now turned into a look of disgust.

Hanako didn't pay this any mind, opting to smile back at her. "Long time no see, Kori-chan! You remember me? It's Hanakoizumi Anne but most people call me Hanako."

"Buns," she replied without skipping a beat.

"No, no, Ha-na-ko. It took me a little while too so don't worry if you don't get it on the first try."

"Shitty Bun Loli."

"Buns is fine," Hanako said in a defeated whisper.

"What the hell do you three think you're doing? If you're doing a job do it properly. There's no time for dozing off."

Three? Kori chopped the very top of the logs and Kirara rolled off, cradling her head. She let out a soft whine and wiped her eyes furiously as she sat up on her knees.

Oh, so that's what was weighing them down. She had completely forgotten about Kirara. She was still as sleepy as ever so Hanako would encourage her to take as many naps as she needed. Any break that she would get would be spent snoozing the day the way with no worry in the world.

"Whoa, I feel like I could do this for months, thanks Kori," Lamp said, squatting up and down. "Hanako-sama, it feels like a breath of fresh air has entered my lungs. Let's go!"

"Am..Am I really that heavy?" Kirara asked.

Kori's ears perked up. "Why so damn formal, Ribbons? Buns here ain't anything special."

"As her.." Lamp looked to Hanako for approval.

She gave her a thumbs up in return. "Friend."

"As her friend, I have to say that's where you're wrong! People like Hanako-sama are so amazing that I can't put it into words. Just being around her is a blessing on its own!"

"Aww, I like you a bunch too Lamp-chan."

"No guys, really." Kirara pinched at her stomach. "I know it's been a while since I've last trained with Leine-san but it's not like I've been eating alot. I can't have gotten all that bigger, ri—"

"You sayin' she's better than me or something?! Like hell she is!" Two spikes shot out the ground, launching the logs out of the girls' hands and onto Kori's shoulders. "I'll show you bastards who's stronger. You almost got all chopped up anyway so consider it a blessing. Once I show you how amazing I am, you'll be callin' me Kori-sama! Heh, got a nice ring to it!"

Before anyone could say a word, she had already begun to leave. Hanako sat down beside Kirara and leaned backward on her hands, staring as Kori jogged forward.

Speed, strength, accuracy, when it came to the way she used her magic, Kori had it all. She wasn't sure that she could tank one of her attacks but, Hanako wasn't worried about that.

"..The last thing I need is more people dyin' on me.." Those words, although they were harshly said, had a hint of sadness to them. It definitely showed that she cared about the wellbeing of others even if it was just a little bit. Despite it being nothing more than a gut feeling, Hanako thought that she had a kind heart. 

"Kori-chan's a really nice person," she said, smiling ear to ear. "I hope we can be friends."

"You hit your head or something, Hanakoizumi-san?"

"That was you though."


	13. The Murakami Family, Part 2

That evening, I invited Hanako to join me for dinner at Tetsuya's. I tried to do the same for the others but Lamp wanted to spend the night writing in her book and Kirara was already unconscious by the time I asked.

Now that I think about it, we didn't really have any formal clothing. Hanako and I only had the equipment that Polka made for us and it was nice and all but, this was stuff specifically made for combat. When you're having a meal with your temporary boss, you don't want to be showing up in armor. This was the reason I ended up leaving my gauntlets back at the carriage. 

Once we started raking in gold from adventuring, building up our wardrobe was definitely on my bucket list. 

"Should I have brought a gift or something?" I asked. "I don't want to seem rude after he went out of his way to do this. Are my robes clean? Wait no, how are my teeth?"

"You're fine, you're fine. I'm sure that he's just as nervous as you so let's try and relax, alright? Fu fu fu... Let's shift focus to something you should be worrying about, our stomachs!"

Blocking the door and raising her arms towards the setting sun, Hanako's mouth curved into a devious yet determined smirk. 

"Yakitori, beef, pork, yakitori," she continued, almost in a sing-song tone of voice. "If he's as big as you say he is, meat is definitely on the menu."

She's right. Dude's absolutely ripped with a capital R. He must need all the protein he can get in order to keep all that muscle in tip-top shape. 

I took hold of her hands and began to shake them up and down. "Great thinking, Hanako! Ahhh, just the thought of it is too much for me to handle! I might start to drool...ribs, imagine all the ribs..."

"This is our chance to stuff ourselves as much as we want. No offense to her but I was getting kinda tired of Kirara making us beans for every meal. It makes me miss when Leine-chan made us stuff."

"Yeah, I just hope it isn't like this every time we go out like this. Hmm, you know what we need for our party? A cook. That way we can avoid spending our earnings on extra supplies."

"A five-star chef that will make us the most gorgeous, delicious meals in all the land! One that will make us yakitori each and every day! That's what we need."

"I..wouldn't go that far, just any old cook would do really. God, that sounds delicious though. Anyways my equally carnivorous dork, it's about time we step forward into our destiny. Onwards to meat paradise!" I pressed my finger where the doorbell would be, only to realize where exactly we were. "Fantasy world, right."

"Onwards," she repeated, more cheery than I ever could be. My heart sunk to boots as Hanako knocked on the door and it immediately swung open, creating a hole within Tetsuya's wall.

Speaking of Tetsuya, he kneeled at the doorframe so that we could actually see him. He was grinning as if he hadn't just destroyed his own property but that wasn't what caught my attention. A light red bruise that wasn't there when I spoke to him had appeared, opposite to his scar under his left eye. Maybe it wouldn't be the smartest thing to ask him about how he got it.

"Boy, you found the place! Good to see you again," he said, shifting his gaze to Hanako and lowering his voice to a stage whisper. "And you must be Hanako. You know, he's been talking all about you lately. I think he has a little crush on ya."

She blinked. "I would hope he does. We're dating."

"Bwahahaha, that makes it even better! The way he goes on, it's like he's a grade-schooler! Bwahahahaha!"

Hanako joined in on the teasing and clung to my arm. "Oooh, how romantic," she cooed. 

Alright, screw the smart thing. I'm going to give the brute a brand new bruise, right on his big, balding head. 

"Oi, old man, let's head inside alright," I said, trying my best to keep my flustered anger under control. "It's not polite to keep your guests waiting outside, you know?"

"Right, right! Come right in, you two."

We walked in and Tetsuya quickly sat us down at his dinner table. The inside of his house was pretty big and roomy which conflicted with the more cabin-like look of the outside of it. Personally, I was thinking that he would have taken one of the fancier looking houses due to being in charge. Everything, as expected from what Hanako told me about her job, was made out of wood from the floors to small ornaments. The only things not like this were the vases, plates, and windows which were all made out of glass.

The tantalizing aroma of meat burning teased my nostrils, exciting me further. I assumed that Hanako felt the same way since once I turned to face her, she already had a napkin tucked into the collar of her outfit and picked up a knife and fork. Without making a sound, I mouthed "pa-ra-dise" and sat up in my chair. Hanako giggled, leaning her head against my shoulder.

"If you guys are here on an empty stomach, I have to apologize. With such short notice, it was hard to get everything ready in time. Dinner'll be ready in a little bit."

"Oh, so it's you that's creating that delicious smell," Hanako said, raising her finger shortly afterward. "It's not safe to leave the stove unattended. This one time, Mom and I were in the living room and this weird egg smell was stinking up the place. We didn't think much of it at first but when we went to sleep, we were suddenly woken up by a huge 'boom'! Turns out it was a gas leak and we had to eat takeout for a really long time."

"S-sakura-san blew up the kitchen?" I asked.

"Yeah, but we got a really nice looking kitchen set after that so it's completely fine."

"So that's why everything looked so different...wait that's not the point! Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

"I dunno." Hanako shrugged. "You never asked."

"Gas leak, huh? My daughter's the one that does the cooking but I'll pay attention to any weird smells," Tetsuya said, stroking the hairs on his beard. "Speaking of my daughter, did I ever tell you the time we went camping? It was so precious since—"

I groaned. "You looked away for a second and when you looked back, she had somehow tamed a wolf. You told that one already."

"Don't be selfish, boy, I was just retelling it for Hanako. There will be plenty of new stories for you tomorrow." 

"Lucky me."

"Wow, your daughter must be really great with animals like Ren-chan! Maybe if I get a few pointers from her, I can cuddle that kitty without it hurting me," Hanako said, squeezing her utensils tighter. "Let's meet her!"

Tetsuya's smile grew wide. "Now that I think about it, you two haven't properly introduced yourself to each other. I guess now's as good as ever," he said, and raised his cupped hands to each cheek. "Honey, come meet my new work buddy!"

She yelled back from the kitchen. "What did I tell you about botherin' me while I'm making us grub, shitty old man."

That voice. It wasn't possible, was it? I must have been hearing things because there was no way that she would be here.

"Oh come on, don't be that way. It'll be quick so just come out and greet em, sweetie." 

"Tch, so damn persistent."

Step. Step. Step. The sounds of footsteps grew closer until Kori finally stood at the doorway. Our eyes locked, her fierce blue ones piercing through me like paper. Kori grimaced, showing her teeth as she cracked her knuckles.

Now looked like a time where S.A. exercises could come in handy. "That maid dress looks really nice on you. I have to ask, do you cosplay?"

"The hell are you doing in my house!"

This is how I met Murakami Kori. For the second time.

-

-

"Dear Sola-sama!" Lamp said, standing on top of the carriage with a pencil in hand. Completely sprawled out not too far from her was Kirara, chest slowly rising and falling as she snored softly. "I hope you can forgive me for taking so long to write to you again. Lately, things have been rather hectic."

She blissfully sighed before continuing. "You did it again, didn't you? You blessed this world with two new creamates to admire and enjoy. These ones even invited me to join their party. Everything has been moving so fast it's insane but I still cherish every moment I spend with my friends.

"I think Hanako-sama and I get along the most. She's very interested in the differences between her world and this one, whether it be the animals, wildlife, or general customs. As a representative of this world, I'll be sure to inform her as much as humanly possible! 

"The other summonee would be Chris-sama. He doesn't really let me get as close as Hanako does and he's a huge worrywart when it comes to everyone except himself. Despite all this, he's still really nice to me. Most of the time."

Lamp looked down at Kirara who had drool trickling down the side of her face. She sat down beside her and wiped her cheek before putting Kirara's head on her lap, cradling it within her gloved hands. "Kirara's still here with me as well. Now that we're in a party together, I get to spend even more time with her. She does a great job of keeping us all in check.

"I love them all more than anything. If I get the chance to meet you again—" Lamp paused. Hastily scribbling over the last few words she wrote, her expression quickly darkened. "When we meet again, I'll definitely introduce them all to you. From, Lamp."

She slapped her hands on her cheeks as if to wake herself up. Sola would want her to continue cherishing all the creamates and she couldn't do that with a frown on her face. Before she decided to close her book, Lamp wrote one final message.

"P.S. Do you think you could send a few more creamates down my way?"

Snap. Lamp's pencil immediately split into four and fell out of her hand. She chuckled to herself and said, "I'm gonna take that as a maybe!"

-

-

Holding me there with both of her hands, Kori slammed me into a nearby wall and scowled. "How'd you find your way in here? Huh, shitty eyes?" A sharp pain shot throughout my shoulder blades as she forced herself backward and did it again. "The hell's a cosplay? Wait no, screw what I just said, I don't care. Tell me why you're in 'my' home, about to eat the food that 'I' made. You think you're better than me, don't you?"

I groaned. "So rough. Can you maybe not do that? Not sure why but I'm really sore today."

"Were you and Tetsu-chan fighting in the forest? That could be why," Hanako asked.

"It's Tetsu-kun!" Tetsuya said, bringing his meaty fists down onto the table. Noticing that he had gathered everyone's attention, he quickly cleared his throat. "I mean, I do go by alot of names but definitely not that one. You wouldn't like it if I called you something other than Hanako."

"My name's Anne."

"Your name is what now? He's never called you that."

"Buns is buns, moving on," Kori said and I personally couldn't agree more. She glanced at Tetsuya out the side of her eye before swiftly pointing a finger at him. "You. You brought them here just to spite me, didn't you?"

"It's not like that at all, sweetie. The boy was down on his luck so I decided to take him under my wing! He's not really apart of the guard so don't be so harsh on him."

I dropped to the ground and along with me, a single picture frame. Had she decided to throw me a little to the right, it would have crashed onto my head. Kori dusted her hands off, folding her arms shortly afterward. "Ah. I understand," she said, back now facing towards me, "in a way that's a good thing. All those extras on that little team of yours seem to be getting easier to crush with every day that passes. Adding a random outsider won't change that."

"The guard hasn't been around for long, you know that Kori. Everybody learns at a different pace so to expect them to improve as fast as you did.. it's just ridiculous. One day, one of them might even catch up with you and—"

"Shut up! You don't know a damn thing," she said through her teeth, "the only one allowed at the top is me and me only. Anyone else can go choke." A ding came from the kitchen and Kori immediately stormed off towards it, muttering, "grubs done," under her breath.

Tense. That was one word that could describe the relationship between the members of the Murakami household. Tetsuya looked down at his empty plate with a serene expression on his face. The fact that he seemed unbothered by her attitude made it clear that this was a normal occurrence.

"Ku-kun, are you alright?" Hanako asked.

Moving the strands of hair that covered my eyes, I gave her a thumbs up. "I'm fine, don't worry about me. Still sore though."

I quickly looked to the side and the frame's glass was completely shattered, tiny shards scattering on and around it. In the middle, naturally, was a photo. There was Tetsuya with slightly more hair than he had now and an older looking woman who had blonde hair with blue eyes. Much like how Hanako gave off a naive, innocent vibe, the woman's open-mouthed smile and cheerful expression radiated with kindness. Right in the middle of them was a much younger girl, holding both of their hands as she jumped as high as she could with her eyes closed. 

I swiped the picture off the ground and gave it a shake to get rid of whatever was on it before going back to the dinner table. Something as important as this belonged anywhere but the ground. 

Hanako grabbed onto an edge and pulled herself in to take a closer look. "Whoa, this is adorable," she said, taken aback from the photo. After staring for a little bit longer, Hanako pointed at the little girl. "Is this who I think it is?"

"Yeah," Tetsuya replied. "That's my pride and joy. How old was she in this one? Let's see here...three? Four? Something like that. We all dressed up in these fancy clothes for the shoot but I just couldn't stand it. Everything pressed against my muscles and I couldn't move an inch. Oh, but the girls loved them, absolutely adored them! They woke up earlier than usual, got themselves dressed and ran a mini fashion show in the kitchen. When I finally got up myself, Kori was marching around in these high heels that were way too big for her. It was a fine day."

"That's a really sweet story, old man. It matches the picture perfectly," I said.

Kori came back with two large dishes in each hand, placing them on the dinner table before tucking her dress to sit down beside her father. Looking back on it, I regret asking this question in the first place. If I had just read the room even a little bit better, maybe I would have kept my mouth shut. 

I showed the photograph to them and pointed at the older woman. "How about the person here? She's very pretty. I'm sure you got all sorts of stories about her," I asked, tapping on her face.

Kori's entire body stiffened as she sat up in her chair. Her bangs shielded her eyes, casting a dark silhouette upon them. The loud authoritative voice that usually accompanied her had quieted down into a calm whisper. "Why do you have that?"

"Huh? The frame it was in broke so I just picked it up."

Tetsuya put an arm around her as she sat there motionless. "That's my wife." He let out a soft sigh and pulled his daughter closer. "She passed away when Kori was young. A fine woman she was, a little competitive but she always lit up whatever room she was in with her personality."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Hanako said, making up for my silence. 

"Don't be, it's nothing to be sorry about. I've already come to terms with her being gone. The illness she had drained her of everything so there was nothing I could have possibly done."

"Weak," Kori grumbled, pushing Tetsuya back with all her might. The man who towered over her was barely able to stop himself from falling over. "There was nothing you could have done?" Her voice grew louder but cracked at the very end. "There was really nothing could have done, huh?" She forced herself up and slammed her hands on the table, causing all the plates and glasses to shake. "That's absolute crap and you know that! At that time the strongest person in this place was you, it was your responsibility. She may have been sick but never even for a second did she stop fighting. And what did you do, huh? Nothing. All you did was twiddle your thumbs and wait for her to die!"

"Sweetie, come on. We've been over this before—"

"Shut up, you don't get to speak anymore. There's nothing I hate more than good for nothing weaklings. I'm done here."

Kori began to storm off but before she could get very far, Tetsuya got up and reached out his hand out to her. She flicked her entire arm back and a pillar of ice shot up from the ground, stopping any attempts to grab her and blowing the photo out of my hands with its force.

With no hesitation, Hanako darted towards her and said, "Kori-chan, wait! We can talk this through." She had only gotten a few steps in when Kori whipped her head around and glared at her. What had stopped Hanako was not the look that she gave her, that much I was sure of. It was what she said next.

"This is none of your business, you would never understand anyway. If any of you chase after me, I'll only assume it's to fight and come at you full force. This is your one and only warning." 

The door slammed as she left and that was that. She was gone. As Tetsuya's hand pressed firmly against the pillar for a little while longer, the same serene look arose on his face again. He was used to it.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, you two," he said.

"It's no problem," Hanako replied, sitting back down in her seat. "No need for an apology."

After Kori left, I didn't say a word for the rest of the night. It was the least I could have done for sticking my head where it didn't belong. In fact, nobody did. We sat and ate dinner in complete and utter silence. Once all was said and done, Tetsuya thanked us for coming, we thanked him for having us and out the door we went.

So ended our anticlimactic dinner with the Murakami family.


	14. Words Hit Softer Than…

Those who are strong stand above those who are weak. Ever since she was a little girl, this was something that Murakami Kori took as an absolute fact. Dad was head of the Everhill guard, meaning that not only was he the top of the food chain in terms of combat ability but that he was also well respected throughout the village. Due to her vast knowledge and understanding of magic, Mom was the only one qualified enough to be an instructor at the local school. Together they were acknowledged by everyone as the best that Everhill had to offer. 

They were untouchable.

They were amazing.

Most importantly, they were strong.  
Nothing against her father but more than anything in the world, it was Mom who Kori looked up to the most. When she was nice she was the sweetest person you could ever meet but this didn't mean she was a pushover by any means. If she felt you ever disrespected her, she would almost take joy in the revenge that would be dished out. Although the content she taught was pretty hard to completely understand due to the age they were all at, the way Mom taught and her vibrant personality brought all sorts of people from across Etoilia just to learn from her.

At least, that was the case until she fell ill in late spring all those years ago. Nobody knew how to react. But the answer was simple, wasn't it?

"Pops, if this is a joke it's not funny anymore. You're the chief, Everhills number two!" Kori flashed her fingers for emphasis. "If there's anyone that can do anything, it's you. I know it."

He shook his head. "Your mother's very sick right now. The doctors said—"

"The doctors aren't as strong as you are, they don't know what they're talking about. Come on Dad, do something." Kori gazed up at him with her big blue eyes. Those who were strong could do anything, that was the reason they had so many people striving to be where they were. That was the reason everyone looked up to them. "Please help her."

"Sweetheart, I can't." Tetsuya placed a hand on her head and forced a smile.

What did he mean he couldn't? The guard was responsible for keeping everyone safe so compared to any monster, something like this should have been a piece of cake. Kori smacked his hand away and walked past him in a huff before heading to her mother's room.

She took a deep breath, in through the nose then out the mouth, and entered. The door creaked as Kori pushed her back against it, catching her mother's attention. She slowly turned her head to her and gave her a warm smile. Kori waved back and pulled a chair that was sitting near the mirror Mom used to get ready in the morning to the bed she was now resting in, tucked in from the neck down. As she climbed up onto the chair and sat down, her legs still dangling off it, Kori dug her elbows into the soft blankets and rested her forehead against her clasped hands.

For a while both said nothing, only enjoying one another's presence. Tic, tic, tic. An old grandfather clock that was bought earlier that year stood beside a dresser, its ticking was the only thing that Kori could focus on. Tic, tic. Was this a test? Tic. Those who are weak are unable to change anything. They're useless. If Dad wasn't going to do anything, did that mean that it was up to her to help? 

"Why the long face?" Her voice snapped Kori out her train of thought. She didn't say anything back, opting to slowly shake her head instead. "You can tell me anything that's bothering you, you know right?"

"It's nothing, really."

Kori's mom put a hand underneath her daughter's chin and brought it up. "Head up princess, that beautiful tiara of yours might fall off. Things look a bit bad, sure, but you don't think the great Murakami Sophia is gonna be defeated like this, do you?"

"O-of course not, you're...you! Everhill's number 1, the greatest!"

She laughed. "I wouldn't go that far but I've dealt with way worse. Anyways, how was school?"

"School," Kori said, eyes shifting to the side. Her tone became quieter as she continued, "the other kids, I don't like em. They're all jerks, always laughing when I talk about my dream. They don't matter though, Mama...with this..." Kori showed her palm to her mother. The frost started as a tiny speck, about the size of an ant, and spread until the entirety of her hand was covered in a thick coating of ice. She gritted her teeth together as tears began to well up in her eyes, desperately trying to keep herself from crying. "With this...I. I've been studying even after you got all sick, you know? The others stopped but I kept going, Mama. Conditions, output power, that element chart thing, everything! I don't have a special move yet or anything...but I tried and tried until I found out my affinity was water so I decided to just skip that..so I can—"

Kori's mother placed her ice-covered hand on top of her daughters. While Kori's was barely formed and already about to melt, her mother's was rigid, just about ready to take on anything that stood in its way. 

"Be just like me?" She asked and Kori shook her head up and down. "This is amazing, at six I could barely tie my own shoes let alone use magic. I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit afraid that you'd end up not being able to use magic since your father can't but this is way beyond anything I could have expected. Ten is the usual age where people's powers start to manifest. Right now, you're way ahead of your peers! That's my daughter for you!"

"Mama..." At this point, Kori couldn't hold back any longer. The tears that she tried so hard to keep under control streamed down her face, staining her mother's bed. "Keep holding on, please. I'm gonna save you no matter what."

"I've been hearing alot from your father and some of the other guardsmen lately. Apparently, you've been talking alot about this dream of yours but no one would give me an answer when I asked what it was," she said, stroking her daughter's head in an attempt to soothe her. "Maybe they wanted me to hear it come out of your mouth. I know you're still little and this is a serious question but if you really have something that you're passionate about, I'll support you one hundred percent of the way. 

"What's your dream, Kori?"

Through choked gasps and sniffles, she answered. "My dream is...my dream is!" 

-

-

The morning after that not so pleasant dinner, Tetsuya didn't show up to the meeting spot. Noticing that Chris now had nothing to do, Hanako decided to take the day off work and accompany him in the forest.

It had been a while since both of them had used their abilities so they decided to do a small exercise. Hanako had hidden three granny smith apples amongst the many trees that made up Everhill's forest, and it was Chris' job to find them and toss them down to her. After marking an 'X' on the tree in front of her, she looked up to him and gave a thumbs up.

"Just like how we talked before, alright?"

Chris, who currently stood on top of a tree, grabbed his wrist and stared at the palm of his hand. "Build up as much speed as possible while also staying aware of what's around me. I understand."

"You got this, baby! Do your best." 

"B-baby?! What did I tell you about calling me that in front of..." He looked around before scratching his cheek, "oh, no one. It's been a while since it's just been me and you. I guess I'm kinda used to Lamp or Kirara joining in on the teasing as bad as that sounds."

"I'm not teasing you! They're pet names, don't you think they're cute?"

"...I guess? When we both have so many for each other it gets to be a bit much. Tell you what, since we're finally alone let's just relax after we're finished with this. It can be our cuddle day. I mean, if you wanna, of course...that sounds weird now that I say it out loud. Actually, just ignore it."

"Cuddle day? It sounds like you've been hoping for something like this to happen."

"I said ignore it, god!" He immediately stopped being flustered as he looked up to the sky, "or would it be Sola?"

"Since you've given this so much thought, there's no way I could say no. Finish this up lickety-split and we can cuddle to your heart's content," Hanako said with a wink.

"Hmph, well if you say it like that," Chris crossed his arms and slightly widened his stance, "now I *gotta* give it my all."

Flames slowly began to arise, outlining his figure starting from his clenched fist that was held proudly out to the side and ending at his dark brown boots. The robes that were once completely white now had hues of orange and red. Tiny, less powerful streaks of fire zipped around the outskirts of his arms and legs, fizzling out and disappearing before a brand new streak took its place. Even though some time had passed since the battle against the stone giant, Hanako wasn't completely used to seeing him successfully use [Shroud]. 

She blinked.

Hanako opened her eyes again and he had completely disappeared. Suddenly, the tree that stood behind her shook violently, knocking some leaves to the ground. Before she had the chance to completely focus on it, the same thing happened but this time to her left. Then right. A faint orange blur rocketed past Hanako, forcing her to take a step back as her hair blew backward. She immediately shifted her body towards the tree trunk where the blur had momentarily stopped.

Chris flashed his teeth as he dug his nails into the bark of the tree with one hand and waved with the other. She began to hurry towards him but before she could take more than two steps, he launched himself upwards and quickly vanished again. The only thing that was keeping him somewhat visible was the faint, straight line of fire that he left behind and the sound of his boots crashing against all the tree trunks. Triangles, squares, pentagons, the lines crossed over each other one after the other, creating shapes and letters throughout the area. 

She drew her sword. Ah, that's right, [Shroud] wasn't just a strength boost. Barraging his opponent with not only power but also overwhelming speed and momentum in order to throw them off guard. Forcing them to make a mistake and then taking full advantage of it. This was the way that Chris wanted to use his power ever since he started training with Leine. Even though this was only the first step that she had laid out for both of them, Hanako was proud that he was able to come this far.

"Waaah," she cheered, "go, baby, go!"

"Found them all."

Chris tossed all three apples towards Hanako who slashed at them one by one, splitting them in half before they hit the ground. He continued to build up speed as Hanako ran to the middle of the area, facing the tree she had marked earlier and sheathing her sword back into its hilt. After a couple more seconds, Chris changed his direction and launched himself toward Hanako.

"Alright, now catch me," he yelled. The fire that surrounded him dispersed into the air and disappeared, temporarily deactivating his abilities. Hanako dug her heels into the ground as her chains materialized and wrapped around him, spinning on them in order to keep the momentum. 

"Combination," They said in unison. Hanako threw the boy at the tree, adding a bit of torque. "[Wrath of the—"

"Oh, wait!" she warned, putting her arms out in front of her.

"Huh?"

He crashed face-first into the tree and fell to the ground, clutching his nose. Hanako tip-toed beside him and looked down with hands behind her back.

"Sorry...something just popped into my head. Need a hanky?" She pulled one out from her skirt pocket and waved it in front of him. Chris shook his head as he wiped it with his finger, covering it with the blood that was now coming from his nostrils.

Sitting up with both hands in between his legs, he smiled and said, "I'm fine, don't worry about me. Besides, a little blood doesn't hurt any—"

She pushed the handkerchief against his face, forcing a sigh out from him. "Please take it."

"Dork..."

Hanako sat on her knees and patted her thighs, inviting him to lay his head on them. Although he was hesitant at first, it didn't take long until he accepted and rested as he continued to hold the cloth against his nose.

"This can be your reward," she said, rubbing his head. 

"Is it really a reward if I had to bust my face to get it?"

"Aftercare!"

"That implies you did it on purpose."

She giggled. "It wasn't, it wasn't! That's a bit too mean for me, don't you think? As I said, something just kinda stuck out to me all of a sudden. Like, 'fwing' or...something," Hanako said, holding her hands just above her cheeks and making small circles with them.

"Oh. Yeah. 'Fwing', totally."

"I remember now! Uhm, so, ever since last night you looked a bit down in the dumps so I wanted to tell you that it wasn't your fault."

Chris' eyes widened before drooping and looking off to the side. "But, if I had just shut up..."

"You didn't know, there wasn't any way of you knowing. It wasn't your fault. I just thought you wanted to hear that. Or maybe, you needed to hear that."

"There's a difference?"

"Of course. Sometimes what you want to hear isn't always what you necessarily need to hear and what you need to hear isn't what you want."

"I don't really understand one hundred percent but I think I get it."

"You know, they say that the best way to get someone to understand something is to use them as an example."

"And who's they?"

"Me."

Dropping the cloth on his face, Chris's hands go to pinch Hanako's cheeks but before they got past her chest, she grabbed his wrists, stopping him completely.

"Don't go pulling up embarrassing stuff from the past! You do that enough. It doesn't help that Lamp can fact-check everything either," he said, struggling a little bit before breaking free from her grasp.

"Right before we fought the giant guy, a certain someone was selfishly blaming himself for something they couldn't control." As Chris groaned, a faint red began to appear from behind her handkerchief. Whether or not that was him blushing or the blood soaking through, Hanako decided to take over tending to his injury. "Even though it pained you, what you wanted to hear was pretty different from what you actually needed to hear. That's the good thing about having people you can talk to, it's a shame words don't always work though. Oh, by the way, Kirara-chan told me everything that happened in Erwood."

"Oh? I wasn't keeping it a secret or anything. Just kinda embarrassing, I guess."

"What you did to help was really sweet."

"Now that I think about it, I should have told Kirara to keep it between us."

"Mean!" She stuck out her tongue before smiling again. "Still, you shouldn't have to be embarrassed by it. What you did was good."

"I can't stand people sulking around me, especially friends. Makes me wanna do everything in my power to cheer them up," he said, overexaggerating a sigh shortly afterward, "maybe I've been hanging around you for too long and your stupidity's rubbing off on me."

"And in this situation, has that changed at all? You wanting to help people who are in pain that is."

His voice grew somber as a smile curved onto his lips. "Of course it hasn't, you dork. The way she talks and acts makes me mad but seeing her distraught like that is even worse in a way. I just can't get close though."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, you've seen it. Kirara, Lamp, Old man, and even you, no matter what you say to her, she immediately pushes you away. When Kodaira-sensei first went over S.A and all that, it was like a light bulb went off in my head. For the first time, it felt like I was really on par with everyone else. Sure, they didn't make people stop fearing me but every once and a while I could talk my way out of things. Words are all that someone like me has so when they fail, I can't help but be stuck."

"Well then tag out," Hanako said, raising her open hand. 

"Tag..out?"

"We're a team now which means that if you're stuck on something, you can rely on me. Just 'tag' me whenever you feel like something is too much for you and I'll take over. I know you have trouble with saying your problems to others so let's just say it's between me and you."

"I don't wanna be a burden."

"Be a burden all you want, it's alright! It wouldn't bother me, I love you after all."

Chris let out one last sigh before raising his hand and winding back. They both high-fived each other with all of their strength, holding each other hands after the fact.

"There, tag," he said before forcing himself to mumble. "Love you too."

"Great choice!" Hanako closed her eyes and caressed his cheek with her free hand. "Hm, let's see here. What *is* the answer," she said, mockingly, "when words fail, sometimes all you can do is let your actions do the talking but I'm sure you know all about that, don't you Chris?"

"Wow riddles, just what I always wanted."

As if the devil himself was listening in on their conversation, there was a knock on the tree behind them followed by a voice that said:

"Hey, tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumbass. That old man wasn't feeling too well so he wanted me to..." Kori walked in front of the two of them, looking them up and down before pausing. "The hells happening here?"

"W-we're not doing anything lewd," he blurted out, waving his hands in front of him. "Don't get the wrong idea!"

"Alright, gonna pretend you didn't just incriminate yourself. The old man was going to watch over the younger members of the guard as they sparred but he doesn't feel good so he put me in charge and told me to come get you. Get your ass in gear, we're leaving." 

Chris's entire body sunk. "but my cuddle day..."

"Your what? Let's go, no time to sulk."

Hanako tapped his head twice, signaling for him to get up. She placed his hand over the cloth and said, "hold it there until the bleeding stops, ok?"

"Yeah."

"You don't mind if I tag along too, Kori-chan? I don't have much to do here by myself."

"Doesn't bug me, do whatever Buns," she replied. "Just don't interrupt the kids."

Kori began to lead the way, inviting them both to follow her. She was only able to get a few steps in before Chris tugged on the sleeve of her dress, stopping her. Surprised, Kori raised an eyebrow as she gave him the side-eye.

"Look," he said, avoiding her gaze, "I didn't mean to upset you yesterday, I stuck my head where it didn't belong and I'm sorry."

Kori jerked her shoulder forward, forcing him away before dusting herself off. "Just forget about it, you understand? Yesterday didn't happen. If we're gonna be breathin’ the same air for a while, it makes no sense to keep bringing it up. Continue and I'll consider it as you chasing after me, and we've been over what's going to happen if you do that. I'm fine."

"Y-yeah..."

I'm fine. I'm fine, don't worry about me. Let me handle this by myself. When you put the weight of the world on your shoulders, eventually you'll break. No matter who you are. Putting her arms around them, Hanako pulled both Kori and Chris close together and laughed.

"Let's get going, you two!"

"What's so funny, dork? I was trying my best to apologize."

"Who the hell said you could touch me? Hands off."

She wouldn't say it out loud but maybe they had alot more in common than they would give each other credit.

-

-

The dojo was a single room with blue mats covering the hard wooden flooring. All sparring or small conversations anyone was having were immediately interrupted by Kori overdramatically thrusting both doors open, creating a loud enough noise to silence everyone. Whether or not it was overboard, it definitely got the attention of the fifteen or so kids that were there.

"She's here."

"Who are the other two? Haven't seen them around."

"They don't matter, keep it down or she might do something."

These were some of the murmurs that could be heard as they walked in. Not amused by this, Kori stomped her feet twice before yelling back at them.

"Who said that you could stop?! Unless you wanna go one on one with me, get with the program and spar, you brats!"

"Y-yes Frozen Fist," they shouted in unison, quickly going back to what they were doing.

Kori led Hanako and Chris to the far end of the room where there was a singular red mat and sat them down. They watched them for a little bit until it was Chris that broke the silence.

"So, 'Frozen Fist' huh? Is that some sort of respect thing?"

"Nickname," she replied, "like how you call a kid with glasses 'four eyes' or someone with acne 'pizza face'."

"Whoa, they got pizza here too?"

"What kinda stupid fr—...what kinda dumb question is that."

"You got bullied, Kori-chan?" Hanako asked.

She shook her head. "Course not, what do you take me for? I molded the schoolyard nickname that those dumbahh...jerks, those jerks made up and turned it into something people respect. Sort of." 

Everyone sat on their knees completely still as they watched the kids. Everyone except Kori, who was digging her fingers into her dress as her hands shook ever so slightly. Noticing this, Hanako leaned over and stared at her. Kori was stonefaced. Mouth pursed into a straight line, her eyes met Hanako's as a single sweatdrop rolled down her face. It was like she was trying extremely hard to focus on something. 

"You look a bit tense. Are you not good with kids? If so Chris and I can take over."

Through gritted teeth, Kori said, "And let you outshine me? No way. I'll have you know I'm actually great with kids. They always listen to me. Besides, that's not the problem."

"If they didn't they would get an earful. That or a fist to the face," Chris said with a scoff.

"I don't wanna hear that from a shhh...tewpid, lolicon like you." 

"Quit calling me that! I'll have 'you' know that her boobs are still growing so they could easily get bigger. Not like I don't like them the way they are, they're small and cute—ow, ow, ow. " As what exactly makes him flustered became more blurred and confusing, Hanako's death grip on Chris' thigh tightened. "Tap! I tap! It's gonna come off."

"Take a break if you're nervous," she said, ignoring something that vaguely sounded like someone smacking the ground. No, surely this was just her mind playing tricks on her.

"I told you, that's not the problem." Kori turned to Hanako, her entire body shivering as if she was out in the cold. "When I'm in here I can't talk the way I wanna. Peeves me."

"Oh, I was wondering where your potty mouth went."

"Kids pick up on everythin’ you say so you can't just do whatever you want. Aside from fighting, talking the way I do helps blow off a little steam."

"You like fighting?"

"I don't 'like' it, I love fighting. Watching, participating, monsters, people, battles in general are amazing," she said, leaning on her hand. "When I was little, it was all I would do and it was fun. Eventually, everyone who used to challenge me either left the village or stopped because they knew they didn't have a chance. I say good riddance to them anyways, too boring for my tastes."

She pointed at the one kid who was striking a sandbag that hung from above. Although he seemed to be trying his best, the sandbag would barely move with every hit. Kori continued, "Some people just lack conviction. A good fight between two people should be like a story, beginning, middle, end. You're not just throwing out attacks for the sake of it, they should have a meaning. Two warriors. Two different beliefs, going full force at each other with the winner being the one who's in the right! That's the fricking coolest, don't you think? Crap...I slipped up. Excuse me one second. OI, RYO! IT AINT GONNA BITE YOU, HIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT OR IM GOING TO COME OVER THERE AND USE YOU AS A DUMMY!"

"Sorry, right away," he replied, increasing the speed of his attacks instead of actually hitting harder.

Chris nervously scratched the back of his neck. "Cursing isn't the only thing you should be worried about. They pick up on violent tendencies too, you know."

"What's wrong with being violent?"

"How'd I know that's what you were going to say."

"No, really, what's the problem?"

He sighed. "Just forget about it."

-

It was a surprise to everyone in the party when it was found out that Hanakoizumi Anne was to fight Murakami Kori in the middle of the village at noon the next day.


End file.
